MEMORANDUM
TO: Rapid Response Network (RRN)
FROM: Society for Neuroscience
Nancy Beang, Executive Director
RE: Passage of Hatfield amendment
DATE: May 25, 1995
Dr. Carla Shatz would like to thank all of you who took the time
to contact your senators asking them to support the Hatfield
amendment. Your efforts were critical to the passage of the
amendment, and we appreciate your dedication. Because of the
passage of this amendment, instead of losing $7.9 billion over 7
years, as the Budget Committee had recommended, the NIH will lose
$900 million over the same period.
To recap the events of the week, the Senate approved the Hatfield
amendment yesterday restoring funding in the Senate Budget
Resolution for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which was
cut 10% by the Senate Budget Committee. The amendment passed 85-
14, with one senator not voting. Final passage of the Budget
Resolution is expected tomorrow.
Cuts at NIH will be avoided by imposing a 0.58% across-the-board
cut on other budget areas. However, the following areas are
EXCLUDED from the across-the-board cut: Health, Medicare, Defense,
International Affairs, Education and Training, Income Security, and
Social Security.
The following 14 senators voted AGAINST the amendment: Senator Byrd
(WV), Gorton (WA), Johnston (LA), McCain (AZ), Rockefeller (WV),
Smith (NH), Thompson (TN), Coats (IN), Kempthorne (ID), Craig (WY),
Ashcroft (MO), Kyl (AZ), Cochran (MS), and Lott (MS). Senator Bond
(MO) DID NOT VOTE. Any senator who is NOT listed above voted FOR
the Hatfield amendment.
If you have not already done so, we request that you write Senator
Hatfield and your own senators immediately and THANK THEM for their
leadership and support of this important initiative. Please see
p.441 of the Society's "Membership Directory" for a list of
senators and their addresses.
Thank you for your assistance in this effort.