The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has dodged major disruption. As part of President Barack Obama's budget deal for fiscal year 2011, the agency's funds have been cut by US$260 million, less than 1% of its $31-billion spending plan, rather than by the $1.6 billion sought by Republicans. “This is a bruising rather than a big gash,” says Bill Talman, president of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in Bethesda, Maryland. The 2012 budget will be the next fight: FASEB is advocating that the NIH increase spending to $35 billion.