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Impact of the Sequester on NIH Funding

This post was written as an article for the Postdoc Informer, the UT Southwestern postdoctoral community's bimonthly newsletter. It is featured as the June-July 2013 issue's lead article.  -IH

In light of the Budget Control Act of 2011, a.k.a. "the sequester," the NIH is operating this year at a program level of $29.15 billion, a decrease of $1.71 billion (approximately 5.5%) from 2012. First, the good news. Because of uncertainty surrounding the effects of the sequester in the beginning of the year, non-competing continuation awards made in the early months of 2013 were generally funded at a 10% reduction from the originally committed amount. With the uncertainty now gone, these reductions will be partially restored to more closely reflect the 5.5% reduction of the total NIH budget (e.g., 2013 noncompeting grants at NIGMS will be reduced by 3.5%, and NCI will trim ongoing grants by ~6%). The bad news? While the NIH intends to keep the average size of competing awards constant at 2012 levels, it expects to fund 703 fewer competing research grants this year, a 7.8% drop (8283 in 2013, compared to 8986 in 2012). As a result, lower success rates for grant applications will be expected in most institutes this year. A full breakdown of changes in the number of competing research grants (and their dollar amounts) for each institute within the NIH is shown in the table below. The differences between 2012 and 2013 reflect a combination of the effects of sequestration, shifting budgeting priorities within the NIH, and differing budgeting strategies utilized by each institute. 


President Barack Obama's proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 R&D budget, unveiled on April 10, should ease much of the pain caused by the sequester. It proposes to increase non-defense R&D support by 9.2 percent for a total of $69.6 billion. The allocation for NIH is set at $31.3 billion, an increase of $471 million (approx. 1.5%) compared with 2012. In addition, the proposed NIH budget would raise the entry-level stipend for the National Research Service Awards (NRSA) to $42,000, representing a 7% increase over the current entry-level stipend of $39,364. The budget proposes a 4% increase for subsequent levels of experience as well. As NRSA stipend levels are used as the benchmark for postdoctoral salaries at academic institutions nationwide, this clause will have a direct positive impact on the salaries of UT Southwestern postdocs. 

Obama's proposed budget it is likely to undergo significant changes once submitted to congress. In light of this, the UT Southwestern Postdoctoral Association encourages postdocs to write to members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to express support for President Obama's budget for non-defense research and development. Detailed information on contacting representatives and composing letters of support can be found on the National Postdoctoral Association's website at:  

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