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Federal Judge Blocks NIH Funding Caps, Restores Billions to Research Institutions

The ruling halts the Trump administration's attempts to limit indirect costs, while lawsuits over terminated grants continue to escalate.

Rita Roberts does research on skin wound healing in a lab in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois Chicago on March 5, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. Researchers at universities around the country, who rely on federal grants from the National Institutes of Health to fund their research, are concerned about the future of their projects after the Trump administration cut funding for indirect costs that help universities to operate the research labs.
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President Donald Trump arrives at Miami International Airport, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Miami.
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Overview

  • A federal judge in Massachusetts permanently barred the Trump administration from capping indirect costs on NIH grants, restoring nearly $4 billion in funding to research institutions.
  • The administration had sought to limit indirect costs to 15% of grant amounts, a significant reduction from the historical allowance of up to 50%.
  • Over 900 NIH research grants, including those focused on LGBTQ+ health, DEI, and vaccine hesitancy, remain terminated, prompting multiple lawsuits from researchers and state attorneys general.
  • A coalition of 16 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on April 4, challenging the legality of the grant terminations and delays in NIH’s funding processes.
  • The administration is expected to appeal the court's ruling, prolonging uncertainty for research institutions and ongoing biomedical studies.