Higher education leaders decry NIH cuts in research funding

Politico

10-02-2025

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FUNDING SLASH — The National Institutes of Health late Friday announced it will cut billions of dollars supporting research institutions, the latest blow to higher education.
— The announcement said NIH would cut its funding for 'indirect' costs related to medical research which can cover universities' overhead and administrative costs. In its announcement, NIH said it will be capping the overhead rate in research funding grants at 15 percent as of today, which could slash millions in funding for institutions. Several higher education groups say this will have detrimental effects.
— Mark Becker, president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, said cutting the reimbursement of research costs will slow and limit medical breakthroughs that address diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
'Let there be no mistake: this is a direct and massive cut to lifesaving medical research,' Becker said. 'We urge the administration to reconsider this self-defeating action.'
— The NIH spent more than $35 billion in fiscal year 2023 on nearly 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical schools and other research institutions across the country. The agency said while roughly $26 billion went to direct costs for research, about $9 billion 'was allocated to overhead through NIH's indirect cost rate.'
On the social media platform X, the NIH said the cost cap could save more than $4 billion a year.
— 'The United States should have the best medical research in the world,' NIH said in the announcement. 'It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead.'
— The potential savings were immediately rebuked by higher education leaders. NACUBO President Kara Freeman said 'while this retrenchment may seem like a good deal for taxpayers' the costs could fall on students or bring research to a halt.
— American Council on Education President Ted Mitchell called the move 'short-sighted, naive and dangerous.' He said the funds have allowed colleges to maintain their laboratories and advanced technologies needed to stay ahead of foreign competitors.
'It will be celebrated wildly by our competitors, who will see this for what it is — a surrender of U.S. supremacy in medical research,' Mitchell said. 'It is a self-inflicted wound that, if not reversed, will have dire consequences on U.S. jobs, global competitiveness, and the future growth of a skilled workforce.'
— Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the action illegal and argued that 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,' she said in a statement.
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Congress
AN EYE ON SENATE RECONCILIATION TALKS — Senate Republicans will hold a committee vote this week on a budget blueprint to unlock their two-bill reconciliation strategy, POLITICO's Jordain Carney reports. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced his panel will meet Wednesday and Thursday to debate and vote on his budget resolution, which paves the way for later passing a border, defense and energy bill only. Graham also released the text of his budget resolution Friday.
— This would put the Senate on a separate, and faster, trajectory than the House, which is still struggling to find consensus on a budget resolution to begin work on a one-bill strategy. Some House committee chairs in January laid out rough savings targets to be embedded in the budget resolution. The Education and Workforce Committee, for instance, is targeting roughly $60 billion in savings.
— The Senate resolution would authorize $85.5 billion in spending per year, to be fully offset by corresponding spending cuts. It also would authorize a handful of Senate committees to find no less than $1 billion in cuts, setting that as a floor but with the expectation that lawmakers will come back with more to match the cost of the bill. The resolution sets a March 7 deadline for Senate committee chairs to hand over their plans.
— Murray (D-Wash.), slammed the blueprint. 'Republicans are making clear with their budget blueprint that they are serious about eliminating the Department of Education,' she said.
'Based on the nearly $1 trillion in unspecified spending cuts assumed for this year alone, Republicans are not just okay with Elon Musk running wild,' Murray said in a statement, 'but are encouraging him to target schools, health care, transportation, and other services people who aren't billionaires rely on. '
PARENTS GROUP OPPOSES PROPOSALS TO ELIMINATE ED —The National Parents Union, which represents 1.7 million parents, sent a letter Friday to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy expressing their concerns and opposition to proposals to eliminate the Education Department. Efforts to eliminate the agency 'should disqualify any nominee for the next U.S. Secretary of Education,' the group wrote.
— The letter comes as Linda McMahon, Trump's nominee to lead the agency, is scheduled to testify before the Senate HELP committee for her confirmation hearing on Thursday. 'Eliminating the Department would have catastrophic and destabilizing consequences for millions of students,' the group wrote, adding that the want the lawmakers to 'reject any nominee who does not uphold the fundamental mission of ensuring equal educational opportunity for all students and to oppose any effort to dismantle the Department and create instability in our education system.'
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DOGE WATCH
SCOTT REQUESTS GAO DOGE INVESTIGATION — Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, on Friday asked the government watchdog to immediately investigate how secure the Education Department's IT systems are.
— The Government Accountability Office request follows several reports of people with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency working inside the Education Department. Scott said DOGE has gained access to the Education Department's internal systems and their collections of data, including for federal student aid. He directed the GAO to investigate the legality of the access to data and any potential consequences for the people who's information may have been accessed.
UC STUDENT ASSOCIATION SUES EDUCATION DEPARTMENT — The University of California Student Association's lawsuit filed Friday argues that the agency violated its own regulations and federal privacy laws by allowing members of DOGE access federal student financial aid information, our Rebecca Carballo reports.
— 'They collect that data with a promise to keep it safe and use it to help students secure financial aid and make informed decisions about their future,' Student Defense Vice President Alex Elson, who is representing the association, said in a statement. 'Turning around and handing it over to political operatives with an axe to grind is a fundamental violation of both Americans' trust and federal law. We urge the Court to quickly stop it.'
SENATORS ALSO WANT A WORD WITH ED — More than a dozen Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to Acting Education Secretary Denise Carter, asking for a list of people who have access to the department's data. The lawmakers want information about what data they have access to and what kinds of safeguards are in place for the data.
BILL INTRODUCTIONS
FAFSA FARM, SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION — Sens. Joni Ernst(R-Iowa) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introduced the Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act , which would amend the FAFSA Simplification Act to include an exemption of all farmland, machinery, other operational materials and small businesses with fewer than 100 employees from being declared on the FAFSA form.
— The lawmakers said the new simplification changes to the FAFSA process threaten to reduce or possibly eliminate access to need-based student aid for families with farms or small businesses. Under the previous contribution formula, the expected family contribution did not include farm or small business assets. But the FAFSA's new formula, the student aid index, takes those assets into account. Rep. Tracey Mann(R-Kan.) is introducing similar legislation in the House.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE BILL REINTRODUCED — House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) introduced the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, H.R. 1048, last week.
— The legislation aims to tighten college foreign gift reporting requirements under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. Last Congress, the bill cleared the House with a 246-170 bipartisan vote. Colleges are currently required to report foreign gifts and contracts valued at more than $250,000. The bill lowers the reporting threshold to $50,000, with some stricter $0 thresholds for 'countries and entities of concern.'
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
— Zach Waymer, government affairs officer at the Higher Learning Commission, will become the executive director of the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors starting April 1.
Syllabus
— School investigating teacher over social media post allegedly to help ICE: WTOP News
— The Department of Education told employees to end support for transgender students: ProPublica
— House Republicans mull taxes on scholarships and changes to student loan programs: The Associated Press
— Looming $2.7 billion Pell Grant shortfall poses a new threat for college aid: CNBC
— An anxious week for some school districts in Colorado comes to a close: CPR News