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WASHINGTON -- The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved $385 million for the ¿ìèÊÓƵ (¿ìèÊÓƵ) in FY 2016. This amount represents a $10 million increase over ¿ìèÊÓƵ’s current funding and is $85 million more than the House approved last week.

"I want to thank Subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby, Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, and the members of the committee for their bipartisan support for increasing ¿ìèÊÓƵ funding over current levels," said ¿ìèÊÓƵ Board Chairman John G. Levi. "We are hopeful that significant additional funds will be provided as the process moves forward." 

Funding for ¿ìèÊÓƵ is included in the $51.1 billion FY 2016 Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Subcommittee appropriations bill. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who is ranking member on both the committee and subcommittee, offered an amendment to increase the bill’s overall funding by $2.78 billion, including a $67 million hike for ¿ìèÊÓƵ. The amendment, which would have boosted ¿ìèÊÓƵ’s allocation to the $452 million level requested by the White House, was defeated in a party-line vote of 16-14. 

"We are very grateful for Senator Mikulski’s continued support and for her effort to increase ¿ìèÊÓƵ’s funding to $452 million," said ¿ìèÊÓƵ President Jim Sandman. "We want to also thank Senators Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Chris Murphy from Connecticut for their comments in support of ¿ìèÊÓƵ."

The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.