Defend Scientific Progress and Protect the NIH (UPDATED 4/17)

Update

April 17, 2025: A leaked Office of Management and Budget proposal for HHS cuts includes dramatic cuts to NIH funding. The proposal would also formalize the administration’s repeated attempts to cap NIH indirect costs, which cover expenses like facilities maintenance and support staff, at 15%. These proposed changes will further devastate our nation’s leading source of medical innovation and research.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest sponsor of biomedical research in the world, driving essential innovations in disease detection and treatment. From 2010-2019, 99.4% of new drugs approved by the Food & Drug Administration were developed with NIH funding support. In 2024 alone, the NIH’s funding supported over 400,000 jobs across every state and generated $94.58 billion in national economic activity, for a return on investment of $2.56 for every $1 of NIH research funding spent.

The impact of NIH research on both health research and our national economy cannot be overstated, but the Trump administration has deliberately targeted the agency’s work. Trump’s cronies have fired thousands of NIH employees, including senior leadership, and blocked payment of millions in federal grants in open defiance of court orders. Attacks on the NIH are already disrupting crucial research on diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s while driving young scientists to flee the country. These devastating threats to scientific progress will set the United States back decades and further worsen the economic devastation wrought by this incompetent administration.

Congress must restore NIH funding and staffing and stop this political interference of the science that drives improved health.

Issue brief and script developed in partnership with Defend Public Health.