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The Honorable Roy Blunt
Chairman
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health
and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Tom Cole
Chairman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairmen Blunt and Cole and Ranking Members Murray and DeLauro:

As you begin your conference committee negotiations to finalize the FY 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS-E) appropriations bill, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) would like to express our support for the $2 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) contained in the Senatepassed version. In addition, our organizations would also like to request your support for the funding levels for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control contained in the House bill.

Thank you for providing a $2 billion increase in funding for the NIH for the fourth year in a row in S. 3158. Adopting the Senate Appropriations Committee’s mark of $39 billion for NIH, including $2.276 billion for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), will allow the agency to build on the momentum from recent Congressional investments and advance stroke prevention and treatment options. Cardiovascular disease, including stroke, is the top disease burden in our country and remains the number one and most costly cause of death in the United States. Despite these alarming statistics and recent sizable funding increases, NIH continues to invest a mere one percent of its budget on stroke research. In addition to medical research advances, effective CDC state, local and tribal-based prevention programs are crucial to advance the fight against stroke, a condition that is largely preventable. Adopting the House Appropriations Committee’s mark of $147 million for CDC’s heart disease and stroke prevention will allow CDC to implement proven prevention programs, which have not been fully executed due to insufficient resources.

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