UPDATE: A judge temporarily prevents the Trump administration from cutting NIH funding for medical research.
Attorneys general from 22 states, including Oregon, sued the Trump administration on Monday for cutting university funding for public health and medical research.
The Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Institutes of Health are being sued in a federal court in Boston for their attempts to cut funding for so-called indirect expenditures, such as lab, faculty, infrastructure, and utility expenses.
The states contend that current gene editing, immunizations like the flu vaccine, and treatments for illnesses like cancer, infectious diseases, and addiction would become unavailable to the public as research into treating and curing human disease would come to a standstill.
In a statement, Massachusetts Attorney Andrea Campbell declared, “We will not permit the Trump Administration to illegally damage our economy, hinder our ability to compete, or politicize our public health situation.”
According to the office of Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, the changes announced Friday are scheduled to go into effect on Monday, giving research institutes little time to respond to the impending budget difficulties.
“These cuts are a dangerous culmination of years of undermining trusted public health expertise,” Rayfield said in a statement, adding that President Trump’s contempt for science has long been apparent. This administration’s disregard for the welfare of Americans, particularly those who depend on this research to enhance their quality of life and safeguard their health, is evident.
The state’s biggest NIH recipient, Oregon Health & Science University, could lose millions of dollars in funding. Significant losses are also possible for Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.
Universities may face significant budget gaps as a result of the NIH’s announcement last week that it would be reducing payments to research institutes that receive federal funds for overhead expenditures. Although that would be limited to 15%, several colleges currently receive 50% or more of the grant amount to support staff and other needs.
The states want the rate change to be ruled illegal by the court.
The lawsuit described the harm that will be done to certain research institutions. For instance, the lawsuit claims that the University of Michigan will lose $181 million in funding, which would affect 425 NIH-funded trials that are presently in progress, including 161 trials that are intended to save lives.
The lawsuit claimed that jobs will be lost as a result. According to the lawsuit, the imposition of this 15% cap will result in the sudden loss of hundreds of millions of dollars that have already been committed to hiring tens of thousands of researchers and other staff members, stopping several life-saving medical research projects and innovative technology projects.
— The Associated Press’s Michael Casey
