U.S. Sen. Katie Britt is leading a group of Republicans urging the Trump administration’s budget office to release funding for the National Institutes of Health, saying delays could hurt medical research and slow progress on President Trump’s push to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Britt and 13 other Republican senators sent a letter July 24 to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, urging the administration to follow through on the federal budget bill signed into law earlier this year. That law, the Fiscal Year 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, includes funding for NIH research into cancer, heart disease, rare pediatric disorders and more.
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“We are concerned by the slow disbursement rate of FY25 NIH funds, as it risks undermining critical research and the thousands of American jobs it supports,” the senators wrote. “Suspension of these appropriated funds — whether formally withheld or functionally delayed — could threaten Americans’ ability to access better treatments and limit our nation’s leadership in biomedical science.”
The letter says the lawmakers support making sure the money is used responsibly – not on “ideological or unaccountable programs” — but warns that delay could disrupt active studies and weaken public trust in the agency.
“Withholding or suspending these funds would jeopardize that trust and hinder progress on critical health challenges facing our nation,” the letter states. “Ultimately, this is about finding cures and seeing them through to fruition.”
NIH’s total budget in fiscal year 2024 was just over $47 billion. The continuing resolution keeps that amount roughly the same, but Britt and others say the OMB has been slow to get the money out the door.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News.
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