On February 17, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Among the goals of the ARRA are to preserve and create jobs, promote economic recovery, and provide investments to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health. 

NIH is grateful for the opportunity afforded by the ARRA to provide economic stimulus to the nation while furthering our mission to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. NIH will receive $10 billion through the ARRA for use over the next two years (2009 and 2010). Of this, $1 billion will be invested in extramural construction (administered through the National Center for Research Resources), $0.8 billion will be provided to the Office of the NIH Director for extending and developing appropriate programs, and $7.4 billion will be provided to the NIH institutes and centers (proportional to their appropriations). 

Staff throughout NIH, including at NIGMS, are working diligently to determine how to invest these resources. A major consideration is that these funds must be distributed over 18 months to meet the goals of the ARRA. 

We are aware of how interested you are in these programs and will be providing more details as they become available. If you have general thoughts about how the ARRA funds should be used to meet the goals of the Act, please feel free to e-mail me at bergj@mail.nih.gov.