Trump Suggests Surprise $1.2B Cut To NIH, But GOP Lawmaker Says It’s A Nonstarter
“You can’t come in at the last minute in a budget, to be fair, you weren’t a part of, and negotiate these kinds of changes,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in response to the proposal. “I just don’t think it’s doable.
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White House Proposes New, Sweeping Budget Cuts At NIH
The White House is proposing a $1.2 billion cut this year to the National Institutes of Health’s budget, targeting research grants. The proposed NIH cut is part of $18 billion in spending reductions that President Trump’s team is proposing to Congress for the current fiscal year, which ends in October, according to a summary obtained by STAT. Congress ultimately decides the federal government’s spending. Government funding is currently set to expire at the end of April; the White House is proposing these non-defense spending cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year. (Scott, 3/28)
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Cut To Current NIH Budget Won't Fly, GOP Lawmaker Says
The $1.2 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health’s 2017 budget, proposed today by the White House, seems like a nonstarter in Congress. “Not going to happen,” Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the Republican who chairs the House appropriations health subcommittee, told STAT. The proposed cut — a surprise given that Congress long ago reached a framework for a broader spending plan through April — comes on top of a $5.8 billion hit to the NIH proposed in President Donald Trump’s budget for 2018. (Facher, 3/29)
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Proposed Cuts To NIH Funding Galvanize New Advocacy Groups
The threat of a $5.8 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health in President Trump’s early budget recommendations has spawned a new advocacy group aimed at preserving research funding. Carrie Jones, a principal at JPA Health Communications in Washington, said the group she’s helping pull together — The Coalition to Save NIH Funding — is still taking stakeholders’ temperature to determine the most effective path forward to avert a nearly 20 percent reduction in the NIH budget. (Facher, 3/27)
