Senate Advances Appropriations Bill to Support NIH, Blood Supply Resilience

The Senate Committee on Appropriations advanced a fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill, accompanying report and amendments  for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and related agencies by a bipartisan 26-3 vote. The bill provides $197 billion in discretionary funding.

Notably, the bill includes $48.7 billion in funding for biomedical investments in research through the National Institutes of Health, an increase of $400 million. The committee did not adopt the Trump administration’s proposed restructuring of NIH or its 15% cap on indirect costs for NIH grant recipients.

The bill also provides funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and does not adopt the Trump administration’s proposed budget that represented a 50% cut to CDC programs. The bill provides $613 million for the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, and a $5 million increase for the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Modernization Initiative.

Additionally, the bill includes $3.6 billion for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, with $1 billion designated for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). In a committee report, policymakers stated they remain concerned about the vulnerability of the blood supply and support efforts to implement new technologies to improve the safety and reliability of the blood supply.

The report urges BARDA to expand development of freeze-dried hemostatic products, particularly platelet-derived products, for broader use across hemorrhagic conditions, general surgery, obstetrics and trauma. Policymakers also recommend prioritizing investments in next-generation blood products based on the stage of clinical development to ensure rapid deployment and address current capability gaps. The committee further supports a pilot project to increase manufacturing capacity for cryopreserved platelets and establish a regional cryopreserved platelet program in a geographically at-risk area.