Budget Cuts Series: The National Institutes of Health

In this continuing series, we are examining the White House proposed budget cuts to learn what's hidden beneath the surface and later update based on Congressional budget proposals and actions.  

The National Institutes of Health funds thousands of researchers working on cancer and other diseases.  It has always received bi-partisan support and yet this White House proposed an 18% cut totaling $5.8 billion.  

Harold Varmus, a co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, director of the National Institutes of Health from 1993 to 1999 and of the National Cancer Institute from 2010 to 2015, stated in his disgust, "A budget proposal is a concrete manifestation of plans for the nation, a declaration of purpose."  

To understand just how devastating a cut of less than 20 percent of an agency’s budget would be requires some understanding of how the N.I.H. operates....  The industrious, underpaid government scientists who manage the funding of the N.I.H.’s research programs consume less than 5 percent of its budget..... about 10 percent supports the work of government scientists. In sharp contrast, over 80 percent of its resources are devoted to competitively reviewed biomedical research projects, training programs and science centers, affecting nearly every district in the country.

A substantial N.I.H. budget cut would undermine the fiscal stability of universities and medical schools, many of which depend on N.I.H. funding; it would erode America’s leadership in medical research; and it would diminish opportunities to discover new ways to prevent and treat diseases.

Even if negotiations produce cuts less severe than the president proposes for 2018, it seems likely that he will not be any more respectful of the N.I.H. — or of science in general — in ensuing years. Even this year, he has proposed deep cuts for important science programs in the Department of Energy and other agencies, and his administration has shown a determination to radically reduce or terminate federal studies of climate change.

The White House also announced last week they would attempt to immediately cut $1.2 billion of 2017 fiscal year funding for N.I.H.  This is in contrast to the Budget Cuts Series which has previously addressed only 2018 and beyond cuts.  

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/climate/trump-budget-science-research.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/opinion/why-trumps-nih-cuts-should-worry-us.html

 http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/trump-proposes-slashing-medical-research-year-too-n739761