Funding Still in Jeopardy After AG Mayes’s Lawsuit Temporarily Stops Cuts
WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined other Senate Democrats in sending a letter to the Trump Administration expressing serious alarm over its reckless and illegal funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These cuts threaten $40.5 million a year in research-support funds at the University of Arizona.
This comes after AZ Attorney General Mayes joined in successfully suing the Trump Administration to temporarily halt the funding freeze. However, this vital funding to Arizona’s universities is still in jeopardy, with the next hearing coming up on February 21st. The senators are calling for immediate transparency from the administration and a guarantee that the NIH’s lifesaving research can continue without further political meddling.
“President Trump has wreaked havoc on the nation’s biomedical research system in recent weeks. In his first several days in office, President Trump imposed a hiring freeze, communications freeze, ban on travel, and cancellation of grant review and advisory panels that are necessary to advance research. While some of these efforts have been reversed, they continue to cause confusion and miscommunication among researchers and recipients of NIH funds,” the Members wrote.
“This change to NIH’s indirect cost rate represents an indiscriminate funding cut that will be nothing short of catastrophic for the lifesaving research that patients and families are counting on. The Administration’s new policy means that research will come to a halt, sick kids may not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials may shut down abruptly,” the Members wrote.
In the fiscal year 2024, Arizona’s universities received hundreds of millions in NIH funding:
- The University of Arizona received over $170 million
- Arizona State University (Tempe Campus) received more than $65 million
- Northern Arizona University received nearly $14 million
These institutions now face significant funding cuts under the Trump Administration’s unlawful policy, jeopardizing research in cancer treatment, infectious disease prevention, and medical technology innovation. If the proposal moves forward, Arizona students and universities could lose millions in funding crucial to advancing medical and public health research. In response, students at ASU staged a protest earlier this month.
Read the full letter HERE.