Defense Health Research Consortium

10/01/2018

Donald Trump Signs Bill to Increase Military Spending, Avert Shutdown

Happy Fiscal New Year! On Friday, President Trump signed into law the FY 2019 Defense Appropriations Act, which includes $90 million for the Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) and the $350 million! for the Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP).

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-signs-bill-to-increase-military-spending-avert-shutdown-1538164270

President Trump signed into law a spending bill that increases military spending for the next fiscal year and averts a government shutdown on Oct. 1.

08/27/2018

Today, in light of the recent passing of esteemed U.S. Senator John McCain, the Defense Health Research Consortium (@DHRCinfo) released the following statement.

Read the full press release here: http://defensehealthresearch.org/

12/11/2017

On Friday, the President signed the continuing resolution (H J Res 123) to keep the government from partially shutting down, at least until December 22, when another funding measure will be needed.

Bipartisan talks on raising the fiscal 2018 and 2019 spending limits continue after congressional leaders of both parties sat down with President Trump at the White House on Thursday. The meeting was inconclusive; it was clear the sides are still too far apart to close a deal and would need more time.

A deal on spending limits would clear the way for a final fiscal 2018 omnibus funding package, which will take appropriators several weeks to complete. Conservatives are rallying around calls to include a full year Defense spending bill in the next stopgap CR to fund the government past December 22. Though some GOP and Democrat lawmakers have dismissed that idea as a non-starter, don't count it out just yet.

11/27/2017

FY2017-Defense-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

The Senate Appropriations Committee has released their Fiscal 2017 FY2017-Defense-Explanatory-Statement to accompany their version of the FY18 Defense Appropriations Act. This includes funding for the CDMRP at levels similar to last year’s bill.

The Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) is funded at $60 million, while the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) is funded at $300 million. The funding table where most of the programs are listed is on p. 204. This will be used as the Senate’s mark for negotiating with the House on a final bill, which will hopefully be agreed to in the next month or so. http://bit.ly/2AcoAry

11/12/2017

House Rules Committee will meet Monday to formulate a rule on in the conference report to accompany H.R.2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2018.

11/07/2017

This week in Congress: NDAA conference work continues

Defense News has posted a schedule for this week's FY 18 NDAA conference talks. Click here: http://bit.ly/2zC0ary

Defense and veterans hearings on Capitol Hill for the week of Nov. 6.

11/01/2017

Sample Talking Points.docx

The House and Senate Armed Services conference committee has been negotiating to reconcile the differences between their two versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including those provisions that would severely restrict, and perhaps even prohibit the D.O.D. from conducting research on important medical conditions. We ask that you contact your Members of Congress and ask that they reach out to the four Senate and House Armed Service leaders to tell them to exclude the from the final NDAA agreement those provisions that would weaken the DoD’s medical research programs and jeopardize health care for Americans, including warfighters, veterans, and their families. View talking points here: http://bit.ly/2zlJeFR. Find your Representative here: https://www.govtrack.us/.

10/26/2017

This morning, the House passed the Senate's budget resolution, 216-212, paving the way for the GOP's tax plan. Expect an expedited timeline.

10/06/2017

CDMRP Letter.pdf

Join us 10/10 in urging Congress to sign the linked letter in support of vital medical research! #ResearchNotRedTape http://bit.ly/2y4Aimc

09/26/2017

Durbin Blunt Letter to NDAA Conferees.pdf

Medical Research needs your help! Urge your Senators to sign the Durbin-Blunt letter (read here http://bit.ly/2y6HRdm ) #ResearchNotRedTape

09/15/2017

Durbin On The Need To Increase Medical Research Funding

NDAA Update: On Thursday, the Senate voted 84 -9 to move to a final vote on the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) without the Durbin-Blunt amendment to facilitate medical research. This means that next week, the Senate will likely pass the bill including the language that will hamper medical research at the DoD. But, the fight isn’t over yet! The next step is that a conference committee will negotiate the differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill (the House version did not include the concerning language) to reach a final version of the bill that will go for a vote in both chambers. We will continue to advocate so that the final bill does not have these research-killing provisions and will keep you updated as the debate continues.

Before the vote, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), our lead champion on this issue, delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor explaining the necessity and importance of his amendment and of the DoD medical research program.
You can view his speech here:

08/01/2017

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Monday night executed a procedural move that sets up a House-passed "security minibus" for potential action on the floor, initiating a first reading of the bill and ensuring the bill will be placed on the Senate calendar.

07/20/2017

DHRC McCain Cancer Diagnosis Statement.pdf

Defense Health Research Consortium wishes @SenJohnMcCain good health and a speedy recovery #McCainStrong. Statement: http://bit.ly/2tjF7Dz

07/20/2017

CQ: Senate Appropriations approved allocations for the 12 spending bills- Defense: $513.1 billion in base funding and $82.1 billion in OCO.

07/11/2017

www.congress.gov

The fiscal 2018 NDAA was released this morning and can be found here: http://bit.ly/2t9Xb29. The sections that are particularly harmful to CDMRPs are Sec 733, 891, 892, and 893.

07/10/2017

The fiscal 2018 defense appropriations bill was passed in committee on June 29 and will be considered on the House floor this week.

06/27/2017

docs.house.gov

House Armed Services Chair Thornberry unveiled the FY18 NDAA on Monday. Text: http://bit.ly/2sX9j7Y. Summary: http://bit.ly/2tixaBZ.

06/26/2017

Over the weekend, the House Appropriations Committee released the subcommittee draft of the fiscal 2018 Defense Appropriations bill, which will be considered in subcommittee on Monday, June 26.

Highlights:

-- $658.1 billion defense spending
-- $73.9B in OCO
-- $125M for TBI/psychological health research
-- $282 million for cancer research
-- $125 million for traumatic brain injury and psychological health research
-- $277 million for sexual assault prevention and response.
(All of these funding levels represent increases above the President’s request.)

06/15/2017

Senate Majority Leader McConnell instructed appropriators to write their bills to the FY 2017 levels, NOT the sequestered BCA caps for FY18.

06/06/2017

GOP budget woes leave lawmakers in the dark

Lawmakers trying to fund the government without knowing how much they can spend. New levels of dysfunction. Politico Pro reports Republican leaders probably won't release the fiscal 2018 proposed budget resolution for several weeks.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/31/trump-budget-republicans-congress-238992

Congress' budget process is reaching new levels of dysfunction as Republicans try to fund the government without knowing how much they can spend.

05/11/2017

See how many federal dollars are going to each state, track federal funding by zip code or recipient: usaspending.gov #Budget2017

05/11/2017

Tump's full budget is expected May 23. Senators are pivoting to FY18 with no consensus on spending levels and a late start to the process.

05/01/2017

rules.house.gov

The "4 corners" of Congress -- leadership from both parties in both chambers-- reached a deal on the FY 2017 omnibus package late last night. View the FY2017 full DOD spending bill text at http://bit.ly/2pokvdI and the Committee summary at http://bit.ly/2oYI4Xb.

03/09/2017

Roughly three dozen diverse organizations that comprise the Defense Health Research Consortium (DHRC) call on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to continue support for several dozen medical research programs at the Department of Defense. These programs, funded annually in the Defense Appropriations Act, are referred to as the “Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs” (CDMRPs). The impressive grassroots advocacy led by the members of the consortium in conjunction with other organizations presents a powerful unified front in support of vital medical research programs!

03/09/2017

Fiscal Year 2017 Defense Bill to Head to House Floor | Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives

The House Appropriations Committee's summary of the 2017 Defense spending bill that passed in the House yesterday.

http://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=394777

The House Appropriations Committee today introduced the final version of the fiscal year 2017 Defense Appropriations bill, which will be considered on the House floor next week. The bill closely reflects the Defense Appropriations bill the House passed last summer, and is consistent with the final N...

03/09/2017

House handily approves final 2017 defense spending bill

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/defense-spending-bill-235851

Only Forty-three Democrats and five Republicans opposed the measure.

03/06/2017

Fiscal Year 2017 Defense Bill to Head to House Floor | Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives

House Appropriations Committee Press Release - "The House Appropriations Committee today introduced the final version of the fiscal year 2017 Defense Appropriations bill, which will be considered on the House floor next week. The bill closely reflects the Defense Appropriations bill the House passed last summer, and is consistent with the final National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017. The legislation funds critical national security needs, including military operations and readiness programs, as well as health and quality-of-life programs for our troops and military families. In total, the bill provides $577.9 billion, an increase of $5.2 billion over the fiscal year 2016 enacted level and $1.6 billion more than the Obama Administration’s request. This includes $516.1 billion in base discretionary funding – an increase of $2 billion above current levels – and $61.8 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO)/Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) funding – $3.2 billion above current levels. When combined with the $5.8 billion in supplemental funding enacted in the Continuing Resolution that passed in December, the total Defense funding for fiscal year 2017 is $583.7 billion, an increase of $10.9 billion over fiscal year 2016."

http://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=394777

The House Appropriations Committee today introduced the final version of the fiscal year 2017 Defense Appropriations bill, which will be considered on the House floor next week. The bill closely reflects the Defense Appropriations bill the House passed last summer, and is consistent with the final N...