Together with the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Appropriations is responsible for appropriation bills.
In a nutshell: these bills help the government spend money. They lay out the specific use of federal funds for the following year.
Per Cruelty Free International, The Fiscal Year 2023 Labor, Health, and Human Services Funding Bill supports an increase in the use of humane research methods. (AKA methods that do not involve animals.)
It reads: "The Committee directs the [National Institutes of Health (NIH)] to establish incentives to encourage investigators to utilize non-animal methods whenever appropriate for the research question."
According to animal rights organization PETA, nearly 50 percent of NIH-funded research involves animal tests.
Essentially, the new bill is directing the NIH to encourage the use of more ethical alternatives.
But it doesn't end there. The House Committee on Appropriations is also urging the NIH to ensure that dogs, cats, and rabbits are rehomed responsibly after they have been used in experiments.
It states that the NIH should encourage researchers who have received grants to "implement post-research adoption policies." And that those policies should be made public. It also urges that the number of animals released from testing be made public too.
The bill hasn't passed yet. It now moves to the Senate for approval. After that, President Joe Biden will sign it into law.
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