42 U.S.C. § 300cc–40c — Comprehensive plan for expenditure of appropriations

(a) In general: Subject to this section and other law, the Director of the Office, in carrying out section 300cc–40, must do six things. (1) Create a comprehensive Plan for all the AIDS activities that the agencies of NIH conduct and support. The first Plan had to be ready within 12 months after June 10, 1993. (2) Make sure the Plan sets priorities among the AIDS activities those agencies are allowed to carry out. (3) Make sure the Plan sets objectives for those activities, describes how to reach them, and sets a target date for reaching each one. (4) Make sure all money appropriated for these activities gets spent according to the Plan. (5) Review the Plan at least once a year, and revise it when needed. (6) Make sure the Plan works as a broad, binding statement of policy — but without taking away the individual agency heads' responsibility for approving their own specific programs and projects, or for the day-to-day details of running them, as long as they follow the Plan. (b) Certain components of Plan: For NIH's AIDS activities, the Director must make sure the Plan (1) provides for basic research; (2) provides for applied research; (3) provides for research the agencies conduct themselves; (4) provides for research the agencies fund elsewhere; (5) provides for proposals that come from the agencies' own solicitations and for proposals that come in independently; and (6) provides for behavioral research and social sciences research. (c) Budget estimates: (1) Full-funding budget: (A) Each year, the Director must prepare a budget estimate for funding the whole Plan and send it straight to the President, who forwards it to Congress. Before sending it, the Secretary, the Director of NIH, and the advisory council set up under section 300cc–40b get a reasonable chance to comment — but the Director cannot change the estimate based on those comments. The estimate must also include how many staff the Office itself will need. (B) This full-funding estimate must show how much money the NIH agencies would need to carry out every AIDS activity the Director considers appropriate, regardless of how likely Congress is to actually appropriate that much. (2) Alternative budgets: (A) The Director must also prepare and send to the Secretary and the Director of NIH a set of alternative budget estimates, described in (B), for that year's Plan. The Secretary and the NIH Director consider all of these when recommending a budget to the President. (B) These alternative estimates are: (i) the full-funding estimate from paragraph (1); (ii) a budget estimate that assumes there's only enough money to continue existing, already-approved AIDS activities (including honoring funding commitments already made) and to start new activities only where the Director sees the most pressing need; and (iii) any other budget estimates the Director thinks are appropriate. (d) Funding: (1) Authorization of appropriations: Congress could appropriate whatever money was needed to carry out AIDS activities under the Plan for fiscal years 1994 through 1996. (2) Receipt of funds: Starting with the first fiscal year that begins after the initial Plan has been in effect for 12 months, and every year after that, the Director must receive — directly from the President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget — all the money available for NIH's AIDS activities. (3) Allocations for agencies: (A) Each year, out of the money it receives, the Office must give the NIH agencies, following the Plan, all the money available that year for the "continuing existing activities" category described in (c)(2)(B)(ii)(I). This must happen, as much as practical, within 15 days after the Director receives the money. (B) Each year, out of that same money, the Office must also give the NIH agencies, following the Plan, all the money available for AIDS activities not covered by (A) — meaning new or expanded activities. This must happen, as much as practical, within 30 days after the Director receives the money.