On 16 July, scientific and health organizations, including ASM, sent a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee thanking them for making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) a priority and providing an increase of $942 million for NIH in the FY 2010 budget. The House bill includes $30.967 billion for NIH in FY 2010. The bill also rejects the Obama administration's proposed targeted funding for cancer research and ensures that all the institutes and centers receive funding to offset biomedical research inflation. President Obama had requested an earmark of $268 million for cancer research out of the administration's proposed increase of $442 million for NIH in FY 2010. The House legislation also includes $6.643 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increase of $67 million over FY 2009.