House bill puts $48.8 billion toward biomedical research while cutting CDC by $1 billion

The House Appropriations Committee has approved the Fiscal Year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The bill provides a total discretionary allocation of $189.3 billion, which is 3% below the FY 2026 level. While the bill includes several increases to medical research, it also codifies some significant reductions and eliminations, attempting to further align American science with the administration’s priorities. It passed 34 to 28 along party lines. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee will release and vote on its version of the HHS budget later this summer, after which the chambers will negotiate a compromise for the final budget. 

Chairman Robert Aderholt said the committee prioritized the nation’s greatest needs. The bill “ensures taxpayer dollars are directed towards core functions like biomedical research, biodefense infrastructure and rural health,” he said in the meeting. 

The bill reframes science as a tool for national defense, approving funds for early-warning biothreat radars, advanced molecular detection and onshoring drug manufacturing. Basic science is taking a hit as funds are reallocated to these priorities. 

Increasing funding for medicine and public health threats

The bill includes $48.8 billion for biomedical research, about 97% of which is allocated to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With this, the NIH receives a 0.2% increase over the previous year’s funding, a stark contrast to the President’s requested $5.2 billion cut to the agency. 

Within the NIH, the bill picks clear winners and losers. Funds allocated to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) account for more than half the NIH increase in discretionary funding, while the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) cuts represent almost $160 million lost in research funding. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received an increase of $184 million for programs focused on readiness, public health protection and responding to emerging threats. However, the CDC’s total budget of $8.1 billion is a $1 billion cut from its previous funding levels. Social and community programs, chronic disease prevention, gun violence and the Climate and Health program and HIV prevention programs under the CDC were cut. 

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) received a cut of $44 million. While the bill increases funding for Project BioShield and the strategic national stockpile, emphasizing the administration’s focus on national security, it cuts $237 million from the hospital preparedness program. 

Climate science, social science and peer review under attack

The bill aggressively strips climate change from the federal scientific portfolio. Simultaneously, the administration is dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative and slashing funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

The bill also prohibits the purchase of supplies from China for the stockpile to support American manufacturers and includes language to codify the ending of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies across federal programs. 

Minority members of the committee highlighted an OMB-proposed rule that would allow political appointees to override the scientific peer-review process to ensure federal grants align with policy priorities. 

“The bill does nothing to protect nonpartisan research from the political influence of the president and his allies…they are trying to formalize this process by issuing a new federal regulation subjecting all grant making across the government to political interference, not peer review, not objective merit, not empirical evidence, just personal political preference,” Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut said in the meeting. 

The administration has also eliminated the Center for Scientific Review Advisory Council and has proposed giving political appointees final decisions on grants, making peer review advisory rather than decisive. 

Although the majority describes the bill as following the President’s discretion, it contains several notable differences from the President’s budget request. The bill provides $48.8 billion for biomedical research, where the President requested $41.2 billion for the NIH in total. 

The bill also increases CDC funding by $184 million, while the President proposed a $484 million decrease from FY 2026. 

Although the bill is already scaled back from the President’s requests, the Senate is largely expected to push back with a more generous, bipartisan budget. Ultimately, the chambers must agree on the final budget.