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.
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