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6d ago

NIH Staff and Senators Confront Trump Over Proposed 40% NIH Budget Cut

Mass grant terminations paired with workforce reductions threaten life-saving biomedical research, according to staff and lawmakers

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Thousands protest the Trump administration's federal funding cuts.
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Overview

  • The Bethesda Declaration began as a June 9 letter from over 300 NIH employees and has garnered endorsements from more than 10,000 supporters, including 20 Nobel laureates.
  • Since January 2025, NIH has terminated roughly 2,100 research grants worth about $9.5 billion and suspended $2.6 billion in contracts, according to the declaration.
  • In a June 10 Senate Appropriations hearing, senators across party lines questioned NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya on unprecedented delays, politicized grant cuts, and President Trump’s proposed 40% reduction in the agency’s 2026 budget.
  • Depositions and staff reports indicate that the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk provided NIH officials with targeted lists of grants to terminate, bypassing established peer review processes.
  • Bhattacharya insists the actions are needed to reform NIH, but staff and lawmakers warn that the measures threaten critical public health research and America’s biomedical leadership.