American Lung Association Calls on House Appropriations Committee to Reject Reckless NIH Reorganization in FY25 Labor-HHS Funding Bill

In response to the release of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations’ fiscal year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill, American Lung Association President & CEO Harold Wimmer issued the following statement:

“The American Lung Association calls on members of the U.S House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations to reject the efforts to use the appropriations process to reorganize the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A partisan funding bill is not the appropriate way for Congress to consider significant changes to our nation’s premier biomedical research agency. The results of the research funded by and conducted by NIH is literally a lifeline for tens of millions of people in the United States, including more than 34 million with lung disease.   

“Given the strong bipartisan history of support for NIH’s critical research mission, we urge Congress to work in a bicameral and bipartisan way to gather input from all key stakeholders especially patients and researchers prior to considering any significant changes to the NIH. To that end, the Lung Association looks forward to submitting comments in response to the request for information from the Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

“NIH is a beacon of hope and a pathway to cures. Any changes to NIH’s structure must be carefully and thoroughly evaluated to ensure that such changes work to improve health and accelerate results.”