On Friday, the Trump administration laid plans for a politically motivated overhaul of the National Institutes of Health’s grant review process—the backbone of America’s biomedical research. Following a combative meeting in which the head of the NIH refused to strip funding from Harvard University, Trump directed Budget Director Russ Vought to draft an executive order to politicize grantmaking and fundamentally reshape U.S. scientific research.
“The damage the Trump Administration has already done to science in this country will take years to recover from,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, President and Founder of 314 Action. “Add this Executive Order to his already long list of unpopular agenda items. It’s clear he doesn’t understand how scientific breakthroughs happen, or simply doesn’t care. We need a system for research funding that is transparent, dependable and not dictated by Trump’s lackeys waging a war on “woke,” and putting American lives in the crosshairs.”
This is the latest power grab from an administration that has already slashed $783 million in grants involving diversity, equity, and inclusion and nominated science-denying officials, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Surgeon General nominee Casey Means, to promote a political agenda at the cost of Americans’ health and global scientific advancement.
“Our world-leading breakthroughs made us a scientific superpower, and every president before Trump, Democrat or Republican, understood the importance of non-partisan medical research,” said Naughton. “Appointing a politically motivated board to review research grants is a foolish idea that will damage both our scientific leadership and health outcomes for Americans if Trump gets his way.”