The White House is proposing cuts to the National Institutes of Health’s budget, targeting research grants. The proposed NIH cuts would wipe $50 million from funding for IDeA grants, which are intended to help spread biomedical research geographically across the United States. The rest, nearly $1.2 billion, would more broadly reduce research grant funding.  View the  proposed budget.

According to Research America, Congress passed a temporary stop-gap or continuing resolution (CR) that flat-funds government until April 28, 2017. A draft FY17 “omnibus” spending bill that would direct more funding to NIH-funded research and other key research and public health priorities sits waiting for further congressional action. If you are interested in voicing your concern, contact your representative before April 28, 2017 and ask them to pass a spending bill that funds the NIH at the 2017 level previously agreed upon.  You can complete an online form here.