AAMC President Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week, in support of legislation to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health. The "National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006," which the committee subsequently passed, authorizes 5 percent increases in funding for the agency annually through fiscal year 2009. The bill does not specify individual line item authorizations for any of the NIH institutes and centers; it does, however, limit the overall size of the NIH to the current 27 institutes and centers. Other features of the legislation include: the creation of an electronic reporting system for all agency research activities as well as the establishment of a Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives and a "common fund" for the division's trans-NIH activities. The AAMC also sent a letter earlier this month to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Joe Barton, R-Texas, endorsing the bill. That letter is available at http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/research/corres/2006/091506.pdf . For more information, please visit http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/research/testimony/2006/091906.pdf or http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/09192006hearing2031/hearing.htm .