Boston Globe: Markey, Warren demand clarity on NIH, NSF funding amid Trump administration cuts

In a strongly worded letter, US Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday demanded clarity from the heads of the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation on the funding status of the two agencies, after a judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's effort to drastically reduce federal support for biomedical research.

"The NIH and NSF are the largest public funders of research in the United States - fueling the development of lifesaving treatments for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, tools for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease, pioneering biotechnologies for organ transplants, and countless other lifesaving medical breakthroughs," the Massachusetts Democrats wrote to NIH Acting Director Matthew Memoli and NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.

In fiscal 2023, NIH generated more than $90 billion in economic activity in the United States, including $3.5 billion in grants to Massachusetts organizations that directly supported close to 29,000 jobs in the state and generated nearly $7.5 billion in economic activity, they wrote.

"Although the NIH resumed selected study sections to review research proposals on February 4, 2025, it is still unclear what happened during the freeze, whether it is over, and what the future is of NIH and the lifesaving, cutting edge, scientific and medical research projects it supports," the senators wrote. "And while NSF investigators have been advised that they can resume accessing funds, the confusion around messaging,the possibility of grant funds being clawed back, and the overall future of the NSF is worrying."

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Read the full article here.

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