Baldwin Slams Trump and Elon Musk’s Illegal Cut to Lifesaving Disease Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) released the following statement in response to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk announcing that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be making significant, illegal cuts to funding for lifesaving research at Universities. The NIH announced that it is arbitrarily capping indirect cost rates at 15%, which will slash funding that helps research institutions, like the University of Wisconsin, operate their facilities, operate labs, pay staff, and buy equipment needed for groundbreaking work to find cures for diseases and treatments for patients.

“The President and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, are illegally cutting funding that families rely on for groundbreaking research that is finding cures for diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes,” said Senator Baldwin. “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. 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. Wisconsin families will pay the price for this illegal cash grab, and I’m going to fight it.”

“UW-Madison is one of the world’s leading engines of biomedical research. This proposed change to NIH funding – UW-Madison’s largest source of federal support – will significantly disrupt vital research activity and delay lifesaving discoveries and cures related to cancer, Alzheimer’s Disease, diabetes, and much more,” said the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “In addition, these reductions will have an inevitable impact on student opportunities to engage in research activities, from undergraduates to Ph.D. and medical students. Medical innovation will be slowed, delaying the creation of new treatments, new technologies, and new health workers. The so-called ‘indirect costs’ go to support many aspects of the educational and research work of the university. Indirect costs contribute to everything from utilities charges to building out the laboratories where science is done, to infrastructure for clinical trials of new medicines and treatments. 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.”

Indirect costs are necessary expenses for universities that support research, including paying key support staff, maintaining equipment, and operating labs, among other things. Slashing this funding will shift billions of dollars in burdens to states and their taxpayers, who often cannot afford to pay the difference. Research institutions in Wisconsin, including the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette University, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, among other University of Wisconsin System schools, will be impacted by these funding cuts.

As Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies, Senator Baldwin is responsible for writing the bill that funds the NIH, which explicitly prohibits NIH from taking this arbitrary action.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.