A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s effort to slash National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant payments.
Judge Angel Kelley in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered a preliminary injunction that stops the NIH funding changes from occurring amid ongoing litigation.
The decision comes after reports that the Trump administration was exploiting an administrative loophole to keep research funding frozen, despite Judge Kelley’s temporary halt to the action.
Shortly after President Donald Trump took office this January, the White House rolled out an initiative designed to slash billions from NIH grants. The cuts center around "indirect costs,” such as funds for facilities, equipment and administrative expenses.
Related
Trump NIH nominee Jayanta Bhattacharya says he doesn't plan on cutting more jobs in Senate hearing
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), alongside the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals and Greater New York Hospital Association, filed suit against the NIH in a Massachusetts federal court at the beginning of February. The plaintiffs argued that the NIH’s actions were unlawful and would result in irreparable harm.
“The AAMC is heartened that a federal court agreed that critical research funding must continue while the case proceeds,” AAMC President and CEO David Skorton, M.D., said in a March 5 statement. “These unlawful cuts would slow medical progress and cost lives, and we will continue our fight to stop the implementation of this harmful action. The AAMC maintains its strong support for robust NIH funding to advance cutting-edge research that benefits every person and community in America.”
Twenty-two states and numerous universities across the country also filed two separate lawsuits against the NIH in the same court.
Previously, the NIH had a yearly budget of nearly $48 billion, making the agency the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research.