NIH funding pushback

Congressional budget writers from both parties are pushing back on Trump administration plans to cut National Institutes of Health funding and reorganize the Department of Health and Human Services. (statnews.com) At an April 21 Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, senators questioned Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about a fiscal 2027 budget request that would cut the department by 12%. STAT reported the proposal again includes deep National Institutes of Health cuts and a new chronic-disease agency called the Administration for a Healthy America. (statnews.com) The administration has already laid out a broader restructuring plan. Health and Human Services said on March 27, 2025 that it would reduce the department from 28 divisions to 15, cut regional offices from 10 to 5, and shrink staffing from 82,000 to 62,000 employees when the latest 10,000-job reduction is combined with earlier departures. (hhs.gov) The budget fight lands after months of disruption in how National Institutes of Health money reaches universities and hospitals. The Association of American Medical Colleges said the agency had obligated $5.8 billion by March 20, 2026, 34% below the same point in fiscal 2024. (aamc.org) The Association of American Universities reported on March 20 that National Institutes of Health competitive awards were down 66% by the end of February compared with the fiscal 2021-24 average, and the dollar value of those awards was down 54%. Its analysis said Congress had provided the agency $47.2 billion for fiscal 2026. (aau.edu) That gap has left many grant recipients waiting for money that had already been expected this fiscal year. A March STAT survey of nearly 1,000 National Institutes of Health-funded researchers found only 35% of respondents whose grants were cut or delayed said their government funding had been fully restored by the end of 2025. (statnews.com) The White House’s earlier fiscal 2026 health budget documents show how far the administration wants to reshape the agency. The Department of Health and Human Services budget in brief says the proposal would reorganize the National Institutes of Health’s institutes and centers into an eight-institute structure, while the agency’s own congressional justification requests $27.9 billion. (hhs.gov, (officeofbudget.od.nih.gov)) Republican resistance did not start this week. On February 10, 2025, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said she opposed a proposed cap on National Institutes of Health indirect costs, called it “poorly conceived,” and said it would be devastating for research institutions in Maine. (appropriations.senate.gov) Congress has already shown it is willing to ignore some of the administration’s health cuts. The Senate Appropriations Committee said in February that the fiscal 2026 Labor-Health and Human Services bill passed the Senate 71-29, and the committee’s release said the measure provided $194.9 billion in discretionary funding before going to the president. (appropriations.senate.gov) The next test is whether lawmakers turn this hearing-room skepticism into another spending bill that keeps National Institutes of Health funding closer to current law than to the administration’s request. For now, the numbers show the slowdown is already reaching labs before Congress settles the larger budget fight. (statnews.com, (aamc.org))