Wisconsin Joins Lawsuit to Block NIH Funding Cuts Under Trump
UW says it will delay lifesaving discoveries related to cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes.
Research at UW-Madison’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Photo courtesy of UW-Madison, University Communications
The University of Wisconsin-Madison said the decision to cut National Institutes of Health funding, or NIH, will “significantly disrupt vital research activity and delay lifesaving discoveries and cures related to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and much more.”
The agency announced last week it is making cuts to grants that support research institutions by limiting the amount of indirect funding for research projects’ overhead costs to just 15 percent beginning Monday.
The cut, which affects spending on things like facilities and administrative costs, is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to reduce the size of the federal government.
On Monday morning Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul joined a federal lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney Andrea Joy Campbell against the Trump Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services and NIH saying they are unlawfully cutting funds that support cutting-edge medical and public health research at universities and research institutions across the country. Twenty two states are party to the suit.
In a statement, Gov. Tony Evers said ensuring UW System’s success is a critical part of ensuring Wisconsin’s future economic success.
“To think that the Trump administration wants to gut funding to help find cures and treatments for things like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes—it’s unconscionable,” Evers wrote. “The University of Wisconsin System is a national and global leader in helping solve real problems for people here in Wisconsin and the world over.”
UW-Madison said the reduction would have “an inevitable impact on student opportunities to engage in research activities.”
“Medical innovation will be slowed, delaying the creation of new treatments, new technologies, and new health workers,” a university statement said. “Drastic reduction to this funding will not only disrupt the day-to-day important work of the university but will ultimately harm the livelihoods of real people across Wisconsin and the country, harm the innovation economy and will make our nation less competitive.”
UW-Madison received $465 million from NIH in fiscal year 2023. The University is one of the top research institutions in the country ranking sixth out of 920 public and private universities in research expenditures, according to the National Science Foundation’s annual rankings.
Of its $1.7 billion in research expenditures, UW-Madison spends about 48 percent on indirect costs.
UW-Madison said the “so-called ‘indirect costs’ go to support many aspects of the educational and research work of the university [from] utilities charges to building out the laboratories where science is done, to infrastructure for clinical trials of new medicines and treatments.”
NIH funding cap will not only affect UW-Madison
Wisconsin receives about $653 million in NIH awards a year, according to United for Medical Research.
That money goes to the Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Aurora Health Care and Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin.
The Medical College of Wisconsin receives about $144 million a year from NIH. The college did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NIH funding supports more than 40,000 jobs and 2,000 businesses in the state, according to United for Medical Research, a coalition of leading research institutions, patient and health advocates and private industry.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, said NIH funding cuts will likely mean layoffs and halt development of cures for diseases.
“Abruptly slashing this funding will mean people might not get the treatments they are relying on, workers from custodians to research trainees to scientists are likely to be laid off, and we will be further away from finding the cures to diseases that plague all of our families,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Elon Musk and Donald Trump are finding every which way they can to cut programs and funding that families in Wisconsin rely on — all in service to making room for their tax cut for the biggest corporations and themselves.”
Editor’s note: This story will be updated
Wisconsin joins lawsuit to block NIH funding cuts UW says will harm patients, workers was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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I am glad to see this lawsuit gaining traction. Cutting funding to vital research under the guise of eliminating wasteful spending is horrific.