As a member of the Society for Neuroscience and a biomedical researcher studying
autism, I urge you to support an increase of 6.7 percent for the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY 2008.  For me and for many other biomedical
scientists of my generation, the question of NIH funding is critical to whether
we will remain in the business of biomedical research or be forced out to other
occupations and livelihoods.  NIH-funded academic research has been a boon to
quality of life and an important stimulus to biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and
other biomedical industries, and these next few years will determine whether it
continues to be so.

Over the past several years, funding for NIH has not kept pace with the
biomedical inflation rate, let alone with new scientific opportunities.
Unfortunately, President Bush's FY 2008 budget proposes to cut funding for NIH
by more than a half billion dollars.  Further, it is expected that the House
will approve its version of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
Appropriations bill with just a 2.6 percent increase in funding for NIH.  As the
Senate begins the appropriations process, I urge you to support additional
funding for NIH.