Funding for vision research and other Academy-supported programs are included in a $1 trillion federal spending bill that President Obama signed into law this week. Vision research funding at the National Eye Institute is getting a 0.27 percent boost in fiscal year 2012, to $702.7 million. Funding for the Peer-Reviewed Vision Research Program within the Department of Defense, however, will decrease 20 percent this year, to $3.2 million. The Academy continues to work closely with the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research and other partners to advocate for adequate funding of these programs. Funding for community health centers is being maintained at 2011 levels, and funding for the Centers of Disease Control is increasing by 0.6 percent over the past fiscal year.

The spending bill also includes a provision that rescinds $10 million of the $15 million in FY 2012 funding for the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Repeal of the board is an Academy priority. Created in the health-care reform law, the board is tasked with finding ways to reduce Medicare spending and making recommendations to Congress beginning in 2014.