California Would Suffer $800 Million Hit Under Trump Research Cuts
Plus a list of all California enterprises with 2024 NIH awards
Uncertainty is the order of the day as recent Trump administration action indicates that California researchers could lose more than $800 million this year if the administration cuts are upheld.
The figure surfaced in a careful analysis of the financial support for overhead expenses in grants from the National Institutes of Health by writer James S. Murphy. Forty California congressmen and women cited the $800 million in a news release, declaring that it would devastate research and “inhibit patient access to life-saving treatments and clinical trials.”
The Trump administration ordered reductions late Friday in what are known as indirect costs, which include expenses ranging from rent and janitorial services to payroll and tech services.
A federal judge blocked the cuts temporarily earlier this week pending a hearing Feb. 21. The NIH said it would comply, but it was not clear whether funds were actually still flowing. A compliance survey ordered by the judge has not yet surfaced in the news.
Meanwhile, some attorneys advised institutions not to assume that Trump administration is done with actions to scale back NIH funding. Their concern came as the New York Times reported late Wednesday, “The Trump administration is still freezing an unknown number of federal grants, according to nonprofits, government agencies and other recipients who say they cannot get access to money promised to them by past administrations.”
“‘Generally, I’ve been telling clients that they should act as if the cap was here to stay, get their accounting under review, see where they might tighten their accounting,’ Wiley (law firm) partner George Petel told Endpoints News on Wednesday.”
“Scientists told STAT all the uncertainty has made it much more difficult to justify spending the many months it takes to assemble a proposal, especially if funding for it can be pulled at the last minute due to a policy change in Washington D.C. “It’s demoralizing,” said one Penn State health policy researcher, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.”
Below is a list of California enterprises with 2024 awards from the NIH. The Trump administration wants to cut the indirect cost rate to 15 percent of the total award. The national average is 27 percent, with much higher rates for some institutions. The University of California rates range from 52 percent to 55 percent.
Source: NIH
Editor’s note: The information about the unfreezing failures of the Trump administration was not included in an earlier version of this article.