Transparency

Last week we had our annual House appropriations subcommittee hearing to discuss next year’s budget for NIH. The bipartisan enthusiasm for NIH and its mission was striking, so striking that ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) ended the hearing by suggesting a “group hug.” Amidst the rare bipartisan romance, there were a few challenging questions, including one about how NIH sets priorities. Dr. Andy Harris (R-MD), the only member of Congress who has been an NIH grantee, put it this way: “Eighty-four million Americans have heart disease, and yet the amount we spend per death is a hundred times less on heart disease than it is on HIV/AIDS. A hundred times less per death—that kind of the discrepancy just needs to be justified.” Earlier this year, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), raised a similar question in POLITICO
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Source Type: blogs