2001 spending. NIH gets $2.5 billion more as Congress wraps up budget

Last week, the U.S. Congress approved a 14.2% increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to a record $20.3 billion, keeping the agency on track to double its budget by 2003. The 15 December vote essentially upheld a funding deal that lawmakers had sealed on 29 October with a red wine toast, overcoming last-minute opposition from fiscal conservatives who sought to freeze budgets at existing levels.