A statement from ASCO Past President Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FACP, FASCO, expressed the Society’s strong opposition to the Administration’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, which includes a 21% funding cut for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a 20% funding cut for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and reducing Medicaid funding by more than $600 billion. Such extreme reductions to programs that are critical to research will fundamentally damage our nation’s progress in treating patients and will irreversibly harm our nation’s fragile biomedical research infrastructure.
The budget proposal is extremely disappointing, but ASCO remains encouraged by bipartisan Congressional support that resulted in increased NIH and NCI funding in FY 2016 and FY 2017. ASCO is ready to work with lawmakers to develop a budget that adequately funds cancer care and research—and better serves the estimated 2.1 million Medicaid beneficiaries who have a cancer diagnosis or are cancer survivors.
“Gutting critical federal support at this time will jeopardize Americans’ health and our country’s scientific leadership and economic growth,” said Dr. Hayes. ■
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