Bill proposes $1.8bn biomedical trust fund

Legislation to create a mandatory trust fund to boost appropriations for biomedical research at several federal science agencies was unveiled by Senate assistant majority leader Dick Durbin during a policy address at the Center for National Policy in Washington DC.

Speaking on 11 March, Durbin said that the American Cures Act would provide the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense Health Program, and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Medical and Prosthetic Research Program with a funding increase of “GDP-indexed inflation” plus 5 percent. The legislation would represent $1.8 billion in extra funds in the first year and $150bn over 10 years, according to estimates by Durbin, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.

“In the last two centuries, US government support for scientific research has helped split the atom, defeat polio, conquer space, create the internet, map the human genome, and much more. No nation has ever made such a significant investment in science, and no nation’s scientists have ever done more to improve the quality of life on Earth,” Durbin said. “But America’s place as the world’s innovation leader is at risk as we are falling behind in our investment in biomedical research,” he warned.