Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) released the following statement in response to President Trump announcing that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would immediately cap its indirect cost rate at 15%, cutting off lifesaving research at universities. The action contradicts already established law that prohibits modifications to NIH’s indirect costs. Senator Blunt Rochester recently joined the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. expressing serious alarm over the announcement.
“I am deeply concerned that the President and his unelected billionaire friend are illegally cutting funding for lifesaving medical research administered through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These abrupt cuts are unwarranted and will have detrimental impacts on everything from the facilities, labs, and staff needed to carry out critical biomedical research to the patients and families who are counting on breakthroughs from clinical trials. It is incomprehensible that this administration would rather slash medical research funding and undermine the progress we’ve made in protecting public health, rather than address the real issues affecting Americans across the country like lowering costs at the grocery store.
“Delaware has always prided itself on being a center of research and development – from our innovative life and bio science businesses to our first-rate academic institutions. Funding cuts mean stalled progress for cutting-edge programs that are growing our biomedical workforce like the Delaware IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, which includes University of Delaware, Delaware State University, ChristianaCare, Delaware Technical Community College and Nemours Children’s Health, that provides research opportunities to undergraduate students and access to research facilities and training in data science methods. The University of Delaware, which receives more than $40 million from the NIH, could also face disruptions at its Center for Cardiovascular Health that is advancing research on heart disease among several other key research areas including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and stroke recovery.
“For Delaware State University, cuts mean stalled progress on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease research at its Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research and a halt in biomedical and health disparity research at its Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center. I’ve made it a priority throughout my time in Congress to bring federal dollars home to advance biomedical research and grow its workforce, especially at the University of Delaware and Delaware State University, and I’m committed to building on that work that helps generate over $180 million to our state’s economy.
“While I am proud that the First State, under the leadership of our Attorney General Kathy Jennings, took swift legal action this week to stop these cuts from going into effect, the fight is far from over. We cannot and will not sacrifice research for recklessness.”
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