CLINTON BUDGET BOOSTS NIH, NPS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1998:

WASHINGTON D.C.– – The
U.S. budget for fiscal 1999 announced by
President Bill Clinton on February 2
includes a record $170 billion for civilian
research and development over the next
five years. The National Institutes of
Health would get an immediate funding
increase of $1.15 billion, giving it a 1999
budget of $14.8 billion, and would be
scheduled to get $20 billion in 2004.
NIH head Harold Varmus told
media that the money, if allocated by
Congress, would be divided among studies
of cancer, diabetes, brain disorders,
asthma, and AIDS.

Also of interest to people who
care about animals, the Clinton budget
called for giving the USDA $770 million
for food safety and agricultural research.
The National Park Service would
be allowed to spend $328 million to buy
sensitive habitats including the New World
mine site in Montana just north of
Yellowstone National Park––a potential
refuge for bison who are now shot if they
leave the park.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service would get a 13.6% funding hike,
including an unprecedented 46% raise in
funding for endangered species protection.
A big loser in the Clinton budget
proposal would be USDA Wildlife
Services, formerly called Animal Damage
Control. The current $28.5 million
Wildlife Services budget would be
trimmed by $2.5 million.