The Trump administration is cutting billions of dollars in biomedical research funding, alarming academic leaders who said it would imperil their universities and medical centers and drawing swift rebukes from Democrats who predicted dire consequences for scientific research.
The move, announced Friday night by the National Institutes of Health, drastically cuts the NIH’s funding for “indirect” costs related to research. These are the administrative requirements, facilities and other operations that many scientists say are essential but some Republicans have argued are superfluous.
“The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” the NIH said in its announcement. “It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead.”
In a post on social media, NIH said the change would save more than $4 billion a year, effective immediately. The note singled out Harvard University, Yale University and Johns Hopkins University’s multibillion-dollar endowments, implying that many universities do not need the added federal funding.
The policy, essentially a massive budget cut to science and medical centers across the country, was quickly denounced as devastating by universities and research organizations.
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Some scientists said the move could threaten research already underway and noted that their universities have a fraction of the endowments of schools such as Harvard and Yale. Industry leaders also questioned whether the move was legal.
“This is a surefire way to cripple lifesaving research and innovation,” Matt Owens, president of COGR, Council on Government Relations, an association of research institutions, academic medical centers and research institutes, wrote in an email.
The funding is “part and parcel of the total costs of conducting world class research,” Owens added. “We are carefully reviewing this policy change as it contradicts current law and policy. America’s competitors will relish this self-inflicted wound.”
Trump allies hailed the NIH’s move. The U.S. DOGE Service, the agency led by billionaire Elon Musk that has focused on slashing government spending, said NIH’s new policy would save billions of dollars in “excessive grant administrative costs.”
“Amazing job by NIH team,” DOGE posted on social media.
Republicans in recent years had weighed cutting federal funds for overhead costs at universities, with the first Trump administration abandoning a plan to do so amid pressure from biomedical leaders.
Democrats immediately castigated the Trump administration, saying the NIH’s move would imperil clinical research, patient care and laboratory operations, among other health care priorities.
“Just because Elon Musk doesn’t understand indirect costs doesn’t mean Americans should have to pay the price with their lives,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) said in a statement.
The NIH’s policy shift centers on how it awards grants to support scientific research on cancer, heart disease and diabetes. It also provides overhead funds to cover the costs of facilities, administration and other approved costs. That amount is a percentage of the original grant and varies by institutions but can represent more than half the grant.
In fiscal year 2023, out of $35 billion in awarded grants, $9 billion went to overhead, NIH said.
The move, announced Friday night by the National Institutes of Health, drastically cuts the NIH’s funding for “indirect” costs related to research. These are the administrative requirements, facilities and other operations that many scientists say are essential but some Republicans have argued are superfluous.
“The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” the NIH said in its announcement. “It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead.”
In a post on social media, NIH said the change would save more than $4 billion a year, effective immediately. The note singled out Harvard University, Yale University and Johns Hopkins University’s multibillion-dollar endowments, implying that many universities do not need the added federal funding.
The policy, essentially a massive budget cut to science and medical centers across the country, was quickly denounced as devastating by universities and research organizations.
🧘
Follow Health & wellness
Some scientists said the move could threaten research already underway and noted that their universities have a fraction of the endowments of schools such as Harvard and Yale. Industry leaders also questioned whether the move was legal.
“This is a surefire way to cripple lifesaving research and innovation,” Matt Owens, president of COGR, Council on Government Relations, an association of research institutions, academic medical centers and research institutes, wrote in an email.
The funding is “part and parcel of the total costs of conducting world class research,” Owens added. “We are carefully reviewing this policy change as it contradicts current law and policy. America’s competitors will relish this self-inflicted wound.”
Trump allies hailed the NIH’s move. The U.S. DOGE Service, the agency led by billionaire Elon Musk that has focused on slashing government spending, said NIH’s new policy would save billions of dollars in “excessive grant administrative costs.”
“Amazing job by NIH team,” DOGE posted on social media.
Republicans in recent years had weighed cutting federal funds for overhead costs at universities, with the first Trump administration abandoning a plan to do so amid pressure from biomedical leaders.
Democrats immediately castigated the Trump administration, saying the NIH’s move would imperil clinical research, patient care and laboratory operations, among other health care priorities.
“Just because Elon Musk doesn’t understand indirect costs doesn’t mean Americans should have to pay the price with their lives,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) said in a statement.
The NIH’s policy shift centers on how it awards grants to support scientific research on cancer, heart disease and diabetes. It also provides overhead funds to cover the costs of facilities, administration and other approved costs. That amount is a percentage of the original grant and varies by institutions but can represent more than half the grant.
In fiscal year 2023, out of $35 billion in awarded grants, $9 billion went to overhead, NIH said.
