Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) and 12 of her Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Russell Vought, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), advocating for the disbursement of appropriated funds for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Specifically, the letter requests that the Administration faithfully implement the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, which was signed into law earlier this year. This legislation contains critical funding to support NIH initiatives across a range of critical research areas, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and rare pediatric disorders.
“We write to ask you to fully implement the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, including funds appropriated for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)… Suspension of these appropriated funds - whether formally withheld or functionally delayed — could threaten Americans' ability to access better treatments and limit our nation's leadership in biomedical science. It also risks inadvertently severing ongoing NIH-funded research prior to actionable results,” the Senators wrote.
“We share your commitment to ensuring NIH funds are used responsibly and not diverted to ideological or unaccountable programs. We are confident Secretary Kennedy and Director Bhattacharya are well positioned to uphold gold standard research by ensuring that NIH awards are grounded in transparency, scientific merit, and a clear alignment with national interests,” they continued.
“Our shared goal is to restore public trust in the NIH precisely because its work is focused on results, accountability, and real-world impact. Withholding or suspending these funds would jeopardize that trust and hinder progress on critical health challenges facing our nation. Ultimately, this is about finding cures and seeing them through to fruition,” the Senators concluded.
Joining Senators Collins and Britt in signing the letter were Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tim Scott (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Todd Young (R-IN).
Senator Collins has consistently voiced her opposition to cuts in NIH research funding. In February, she announced her opposition to the proposed cap on indirect costs for NIH sponsored research, which are usually negotiated between NIH and the grant recipient. In April, Senator Collins chaired the first full Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with a focus on the importance of biomedical research. At Senator Collins’ invitation, Dr. Hermann Haller, President of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDI Lab), provided testimony on how the proposed NIH cap would affect biomedical research occurring in Maine and at institutions across the country.
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