White House Includes NIH, Cancer Moonshot Funding Increases in 2025 Federal Budget

President Biden released his federal fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget March 11, in which he requests Congress increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $716 million in discretionary funds for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Funding for the Cancer Moonshot program was also incorporated into the proposed budget.

NIH was allocated $48.3 billion, an $872 million (1.8%) increase over FY 2023 funding (FY24 funding for NIH has not yet been released). Additionally, the budget proposal would provide level funding of $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). In its first two years of operation, ARPA-H launched a series of high-risk, high-reward initiatives supported by the American College of Radiology® (ACR®).

Included in the overall NIH increase, the president’s budget seeks $716 million in discretionary funds for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an increase of $500 million above FY 2023. This funding would go toward research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment efforts, which rely on radiology and imaging tools.

The Cancer Moonshot initiative received mandatory funding of $1.5 billion across the NCI, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and ARPA-H.

More information about the president’s proposed budget can be found through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Budget in Brief summary.

The Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, of which ACR is a member, released a press statement applauding the president’s request to provide a necessary increase in discretionary funding for medical research, while expressing concern that the proposed base budget request for FY 2025 lags behind biomedical inflation and would force NIH to reduce its capacity to support medical research nationwide. The Ad Hoc Group is urging Congress to provide at least $51.3 billion for the NIH base level.

The president’s budget provides insight into priorities of the White House and is an important step in the appropriations process. Following the president’s budget, Congress will release a budget which may reflect sections of the president’s proposal. Due to conflicts between the House and Senate, Congress has not yet established the final FY 2024 budget for the NIH, and the agency has been working under a continuing resolution since fall of 2023.

For more information, contact Katie Grady, ACR Government Affairs Director.