Biomedical Research Funding Act

Summary#

This bill, called the American Cures Act, sets new federal funding levels for biomedical and public-health research. It lists specific dollar amounts for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Defense health research, and Veterans Affairs medical and prosthetics research for fiscal years 2027–2036, and then ties future yearly increases to the Consumer Price Index. The bill also exempts these appropriations from automatic across-the-board cuts (sequestration) and directs that the budget effects not be entered on certain PAYGO scorecards (budget accounting tools).

• Main change: It provides (appropriates) fixed annual funding amounts for four agencies from FY2027 through FY2036 and requires future increases after FY2037 to match any annual CPI-U increase.
• Protects funds: These amounts are exempted from sequestration orders issued after the bill’s enactment.
• Budget accounting: The bill says its budgetary effects should not be entered on specified PAYGO scorecards.
• Availability: The funds “shall remain available until expended,” meaning the money does not expire at the end of a single fiscal year.
• Scope: The bill refers to the appropriations accounts that support the various institutes, centers, and offices inside each named agency.

What it means for you#

• Researchers and research institutions

  • Could see larger and more predictable grant funding from NIH, CDC-related research accounts, DoD health R&D, and VA medical research if agencies distribute the funds to grants and contracts.
  • Longer projects may be easier to plan because funds “remain available until expended.”

• Patients and the public

  • This could mean more funding for studies on diseases, new treatments, vaccines, and medical devices. The bill itself does not say which diseases or projects get priority.

• Veterans

  • The VA’s medical and prosthetics research program is given specific, increased amounts that could support more research on veteran health issues and prosthetic development.

• Active-duty military and military health programs

  • The Defense health research accounts receive increased R&D funding, which could support military medical research and technology.

• Public-health system

  • CDC-related appropriations are increased, which could expand disease surveillance, prevention research, and public-health programs if CDC allocates funds that way.

• Taxpayers and the federal budget

  • The bill directs the Treasury to provide the listed funds. It also removes these funds from sequestration and from certain PAYGO scorecards, which affects how the spending is treated in overall budget enforcement and accounting.

• State and local governments / other programs

  • The bill does not directly change state or local programs. It also does not specify how much of the agency funds go to federal versus non-federal recipients.

Expenses#

Estimated public cost: The bill specifies multi-year appropriations that rise substantially over time (for example, NIH funding is set at about $52.5 billion in FY2027 and about $102.3 billion in FY2036).

• Direct federal spending: The bill lists specific dollar amounts to be paid from the Treasury to four federal research programs for FY2027–FY2036 and ties later years to CPI-U increases.
• Sequestration exemption effect: Because these appropriations are exempt from sequestration, they would not be reduced by future sequestration orders, which could increase net federal outlays relative to similar funds that remain subject to sequestration.
• PAYGO accounting: The bill directs that its budgetary effects not be entered on certain PAYGO scorecards. The immediate fiscal-note or budget-office estimate is not included in the bill text supplied here.
• No fiscal note provided in this material: No publicly available information in the supplied material gives a total multi-year cost estimate, offset plan, or scoring from the Congressional Budget Office in this text.

Proponents' View#

• The bill appears intended to prioritize and expand national investment in biomedical research by providing substantial, multi-year funding increases to key agencies.
• A possible argument for the bill is that predictable, rising funding helps long-term research projects, speeds development of treatments, and strengthens public-health preparedness.
• Tying increases after 2037 to the Consumer Price Index could be seen as protecting the real value of funding against inflation.
• Exempting these funds from sequestration may be presented as protecting critical research programs from across-the-board cuts.
• Making funds available until expended could help multi-year research grants and large capital projects finish without year-to-year funding uncertainty.

Opponents' View#

• One concern is that the bill directs large increases in federal spending without showing offsets or how the new spending fits into the overall federal budget. This could raise the deficit unless Congress provides offsets elsewhere.
• Removing these appropriations from sequestration and excluding their effects from some PAYGO scorecards reduces the usual budget enforcement mechanisms. This may make it harder to see and control the bill’s fiscal impact.
• The bill does not say how agencies must allocate the money within each program. It is unclear which diseases, research areas, or geographic regions would get priority.
• The bill supplies funding amounts but gives no detailed implementation rules, oversight plans, or performance measures to assess whether the extra money achieves expected results.
• It is unclear whether these appropriations replace existing agency funding levels or are added on top of currently planned budgets.