Overview

• Over 300 NIH scientists and staff signed the Bethesda Declaration to protest the termination of roughly 2,100 grants worth more than $12 billion and accuse leadership of politicizing science
• At a June 10 Senate appropriations hearing, Director Jay Bhattacharya defended the cuts as necessary to eliminate ideological bias and said peer review and international collaborations remain intact
• The Trump administration has proposed a 40 percent budget reduction for fiscal 2026, cutting NIH funding to $27.5 billion and prompting warnings that Alzheimer’s, cancer and other critical studies could stall
• Researchers cited cases of clinical trials halted midstream that left participants without monitored treatments and warned that canceled grants risk breaching ethical and legal obligations to trial subjects
• Staffers also criticized a new cap on indirect research costs at 15 percent and ongoing agency reorganizations, saying they threaten academic freedom and U.S. leadership in biomedical research