Overview

• Sen. Katie Britt led 14 Republican senators in a July 25 letter to OMB Director Russell Vought calling for immediate release of fiscal 2025 NIH funding stalled since its March appropriation.
• The senators warned that continued delays in disbursing congressionally approved funds threaten active biomedical research projects and the jobs they support.
• While endorsing oversight measures to guard against ideological spending, lawmakers cautioned that withholding those appropriations undermines confidence in NIH’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
• Scientific institutions reported more than 2,100 NIH grants worth over $9 billion were cut or frozen this year during DEI compliance reviews under new administrative directives.
• In April a federal judge permanently blocked cost-cap policies and restored nearly $4 billion in grants before attention shifted to stalled FY25 disbursements.