Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announcing it would set the maximum reimbursement rate for indirect costs to 15%, creating a serious funding shortfall for research institutions of all types across the country. This move will dismantle the biomedical research system, stifle the development of new cures for disease, and rip treatments away from patients in need. It won’t produce cost savings; it will just shift costs to states who can’t afford to pay the difference. Importantly, this action by the Trump administration is illegal. Congress’ bipartisan Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill prohibits modifications to NIH’s indirect costs.
“By proposing an illegal and arbitrary indirect cost rate, Trump and Elon are functionally forcing an indiscriminate funding cut for research institutions across the country that will be nothing short of catastrophic for so much of the lifesaving research patients and families are counting on. This will derail major breakthroughs by forcing research institutions—like the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington in my state—to now scramble to make up this massive shortfall, almost certainly forcing layoffs across the country. Sick kids may not get the treatment they need. Clinical trials may be shut down abruptly with dangerous consequences. Just because Elon Musk doesn’t understand indirect costs doesn’t mean Americans should have to pay the price with their lives.
“These resources go toward things like construction, utility costs, and lab operation—if NIH cuts off this support, the research will come to a halt. This funding helps produce breakthroughs that change patients’ lives, prepare us for pandemics and other health threats, and ensure the U.S. continues to be the global leader in biomedical research. After a global pandemic that brought the world economy to a grinding halt and cost more than one million American lives, it’s unthinkable that Trump and Musk want to pull funding that will force public and private labs across America to shutter. I refuse to abandon the millions of families who are fighting cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, substance use disorders, and so much more—I hope Americans everywhere will speak out to reverse this haphazard and dangerous funding cut.”
As a longtime appropriator and former Chair of the Senate HELP Committee, Murray has long fought to boost biomedical research, strengthen public health infrastructure, and make health care more affordable and accessible. Over her years as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, she has secured billions of dollars in increases for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field. Senator Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments.
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