Protect Research Universities from Government Interference

In addition to repeated efforts to cut NIH and NSF research funding across the board through illegal impoundment or budget rescissions, the Trump administration has now begun targeting individual universities. They threatened and forced monetary settlements Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and have now blocked the distribution of already approved grants for UCLA and Duke among other research institutions. The administration is citing various forms of “discrimination” as their rationale, but it is apparent that this is only the latest attempt to carry out their anti-DEI crusade, with the added bonus of being able to make claims about cutting costs.

The United States has a long history of being a scientific world leader, in no small part due to merit-based funding from the NIH and NSF that boosted academic research without government interference. Now, the Trump administration is holding academic research hostage under the guise of fairness and efficiency, doing untold damage to current and future scientific advancements.

Our elected representatives have the opportunity - and the responsibility - to not only protect the overall funding for science and research with robust congressional appropriations, but also to speak out against these targeted attacks on research universities which are throttling scientific progress in this country.

Contacts for this topic:

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, ZIP].

I’m calling to express my concern about the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on scientific research, and demand that [REP/SEN NAME] protect NIH and NSF funding in the next appropriations bill, and forcefully speak out against the administration holding university funding hostage for political reasons. Scientists need to be able to do their necessary work without political interference.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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