In 1930, the US Congress gave a group of scientists and administrators $750,000 to start a new agency, the National Institute of Health. Over time, "Institute" became "Institutes," and appropriations grew. In 1938, the NIH received $464,000 for research - roughly equivalent to $6.8 billion in today's dollars. This year, NIH will spend approximately $29 billion on research. The National Science Foundation, founded in 1950, will spend another $6 billion.
Each year, appropriations are passed around before ending up at a final figure. For the 2006 NIH budget, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) requested $30.07 billion. President George Bush requested $28.8 billion, the House approved $28.5 billion, while the Senate wanted to appropriate $29.4 billion. Ultimately, NIH received $28.6 billion.
What formula directs such tweaking? With hundreds of billions of dollars at their disposal for discretionary spending, and numerous other projects to fund - including education and healthcare - how do presidents, lawmakers, and their staff settle on what goes where?
For a recent example, I looked to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, now run by Robert Klein, chair of CIRM's Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee. Several years ago, Klein was ...
