U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor announced today that she will file a bill to shield the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from future sequester cuts and make America's commitment to medical research permanent. NIH grants the majority of the federal research funding to universities and other research institutions. U.S. Rep. Castor made the announcement at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa during Research Excellence in Tampa Bay, a discussion with the local congressional delegation and nearly 100 USF and Moffitt research faculty.

“To improve the health of our community as well as create and retain high-wage jobs, our research facilities require a steady, predictable stream of funding from the NIH. Right now, NIH funding is discretionary and at the mercy of budget battles in Washington,” U.S. Rep. Castor said during the event organized by Moffitt, University of South Florida, and Tampa Bay Partnership. 

“Research investment not only creates jobs, it spurs private funding and discoveries that serve as a foundation for the entire U.S. biomedical industry.” Last year, the NIH was cut by 5.1 percent, resulting in 640 fewer competitive research grants than in 2012. The State of Florida suffered a $67 million setback. Over the last two years, NIH has been hit with an 11 percent cut.

Such cuts come at a time when the biomedical field has become a key and growing sector in the region. Tampa Bay researchers have been awarded more than $130 million in NIH funding over the last five years to discover cures, new treatments and drugs for the marketplace. While life sciences has revved the local economy and makes up $3 billion in wages in Tampa Bay, according to statistics released today by the Tampa Bay Partnership, cuts to federal research dollars pose a real threat to continued growth. 

“Funding instability for the NIH weakens and delays the type of medical research that leads to breakthroughs to help millions of Americans living with devastating diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and cancer,” U.S. Rep. Castor said. “This type of investment clearly pays for itself and I urge my colleagues to protect medical research in America and the jobs related thereto from future cuts.”

U.S. Rep. Castor serves on the House Health Subcommittee, which has oversight of funding for the Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and NIH. She has vowed to fight for more health research funding and raise the profile of health care innovation happening in Tampa Bay.  U.S. Rep. Castor offered an amendment in the Budget Committee last month that would have moved NIH from discretionary to mandatory funding.  Budget Committee Republicans voted down the amendment. Also last month, she invited U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, ranking Democrat of the House Health Subcommittee, to tour the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) in downtown Tampa to show him first-hand the types of jobs and economic growth that the investments in medical research have fostered for Tampa Bay. 

###