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2w ago

NIH Staff Publish ‘Bethesda Declaration’ to Condemn Trump Grant Cuts

Delivered ahead of a Senate budget hearing, the NIH letter accuses political interference of halting critical research projects.

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On Monday, NIH staffers published a letter of dissent they called the "Great Bethesda Declaration."
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Jenna Norton, an employee at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, sits for a portrait in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S., June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Overview

  • On June 9, more than 340 NIH employees, including 92 who signed publicly and 250 anonymously, published the Bethesda Declaration to accuse the White House of politicizing agency research.
  • The letter highlights the termination of about 2,100 research grants valued at nearly $9.5 billion to $12 billion since January.
  • Signatories warn that abrupt grant cancellations have halted clinical trials without proper safeguards, risking participant safety and wasting millions in taxpayer dollars.
  • The declaration calls for restoration of politically delayed or terminated grants, adherence to peer review standards and reversal of new flat indirect cost rates.
  • Director Jay Bhattacharya is scheduled to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee this week on a proposed 40 percent reduction of the NIH’s $48 billion budget.