Congress last week turned back a challenge by conservatives to five biomedical grants with sexual or exotic themes. Two members of the House tried to block funding for the projects during a vote on a bill providing $27.6 billion in 2004 for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which passed by a slim majority. The research included studies of older men's sexual habits, Asian prostitutes, female sexual arousal, and transgendered Native Americans.
Junior members Patrick Toomey (R-PA) and Chris Chocola (R-IN) led the blitz, arguing that the research was a waste of taxpayer funds. Along with the sex studies--one of which Toomey said was too shocking to describe aloud--they attacked an NIH-funded study of panda populations in China. "Who thinks this stuff up?" Toomey asked.
Senior House members Ralph Regula (R-OH) and David Obey (D-WI) mounted a bipartisan defense against the attempt to "micromanage" NIH. They carried the day, but the two-vote margin (212-210) rattled the biomedical community. "I'm very concerned," says one lobbyist. "I'm sure [the critics] will try this again."
