It's really not lip service.
The budget sequestration deal in 2011 resulted in 10% across the board cuts in 2013: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_budget_sequestra...
Likewise, if you look at how Congressional Republicans responded to the Obama Administration's request for funding for Zika research you'll see the same thing. The answer was both "no" and "why don't you divert research funds from Ebola to Zika research if you want it so badly" (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/16/congr... )
Budgets have been cut. Not in ways anyone would ever want, but to say that they're not have an impact is not correct.