U.S. Senate Advances Measure to Boost Funding for Medical Research, Public Libraries, and Opioid Abuse Prevention
Press Release
Today, U.S. Senator Jack Reed helped advance a key spending bill that would boost funding to fight opioid abuse and Alzheimer's disease, and restore year-round Pell grants. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to approve the fiscal year 2017 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) Appropriations bill. Overall, the bill would provide $163.8 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Labor, and related agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Senator Reed, a member of the Senate Labor-H Subcommittee, backed several key measures in the bill, including a $2 billion increase for NIH medical research, bringing NIH's annual funding up to about $34 billion, as well as a $126 million boost for programs targeting opioid abuse. This year's bill funds overdose prevention programs at $26 million, in line with Senator Reed's bill, the Overdose Prevention Act.
And while the President's budget proposed cutting funding for the library grants to states program by nearly $1 million, Senator Reed successfully reversed those cuts and included a $314,000 increase, with an overall increase of $1 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), funding the agency at $231 million. IMLS supports programs for museums and libraries that encourage innovation, provide life-long learning opportunities, promote cultural and civic engagement, and improve access to a variety of services and information.
"We are under austere budget caps so strengthening our public schools and libraries, advancing medical research, and bolstering economic growth is a real challenge. This is an important step forward and I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make critical investments that benefit the American people and strengthen the middle-class," said Senator Reed.
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