Dear Colleagues,
Congress has passed its FY26 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which funds most of the federal government’s biomedical research, including the NIH. The final bill demonstrates strong Congressional support for the biomedical research enterprise.
This bill:
Increases top-line NIH funding to $48.7 billion.
Maintains facilities and administration reimbursement rates at current levels.
Limits the use of the multi-year funding (MYF) mechanism to FY25 levels (estimated at 35-40% nationally).
This represents remarkable support from Congress, in particular from the Senate and House Appropriations Committees who stewarded these decisions into the final bill.
Over the next few weeks, the Administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the NIH will develop policy for awarding and distributing NIH’s FY26 extramural awards. Last year’s executive order on grantmaking will likely lead to important changes in the grantmaking process, and the continued emphasis on MYF may lead to a decline in the number of new NIH awards available.
My office and UCSF’s Federal Government Relations will continue to advocate for policies that support and maximize access to merit-based funding. I will be sure to keep you updated on these developments.
Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions in the meantime.
Sincerely,
Hal
Harold R. Collard, MD, MS
Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor of Medicine and Health Policy