NIH apparently spared from cuts in budget deal

According to the White House official statement issued a couple hours ago on the budget deal approved last night (you can read it here),  NIH was spared from being cut. If this is indeed correct, then NIH should remain at 2010 funding levels, which is about the best outcome any of us could have hoped for. Good news!

The pertinent passage from the White House statement is:

By insisting on these cuts (Cuts referred to in the preceding paragraph), we were able to achieve savings and avoid most of the harmful proposals.  We avoided deep cuts in international programs that, among other things, threaten our transition out of Iraq.  We were able to avoid making than $500 million cut in lifesaving biomedical research at National Institutes of Health.

Given how crazy and up-and-down this whole situation has been, it might be premature to be sure NIH has escaped unscathed, but at least so far things look encouraging.