The House Appropriations Committee released revised subcommittee allocations yesterday for FY 2011. The new FY 2011 Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee allocation is $157.02 billion, which is nearly $6.6 billion (4 percent) below the subcommittee’s FY10 allocation. The House is scheduled to vote on a FY11 appropriations bill during the week of February 14.

Specific funding levels and details of the FY11 appropriations bill will not be available until the end of next week. However, if applied across the board, the cut in the subcommittee’s allocation would amount to a $1.2 billion cut to the NIH, a $19 million cut to the CDC cancer programs, and a $10 million cut to the HRSA Title VIII Nursing Programs.

Malecare urges our members to begin mobilizing now. We must prevent these deep cuts in funding for cancer research and prevention programs in FY11 and FY12. Our supporters in Congress are asking us to do three things:

1. Pull together information on how people are served by these programs and what we risk losing if funding is cut.

2. Compile individual stories of people who have benefited from NIH-funded cancer research and have been served by the CDC and HRSA programs.

3. Contact your members of Congress before the vote in the House to ask them to oppose cuts to funding for cancer research and prevention. If your member of Congress still votes to cut spending for these programs, you should follow-up after the vote to express your displeasure.

We will circulate specific talking points for the House once the details of the FY11 appropriations bill become available.

We will develop and let you know about a separate strategy for the Senate as we learn more about the Senate’s plans for taking up a FY11 bill.

Thank you for your continued support.

Joel T Nowak, M.A., M.S.W.