After Health Secretary Kennedy Claims Ignorance Of Cuts To Medical Research, Durbin Pens Letter To NIH Director Demanding Answers
In hopes that the Director will be prepared to answer Senators’ questions in a June Committee hearing, Durbin sent a letter to Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of NIH, requesting information about drastic cuts to medical research
WASHINGTON – Following repeated claims of ignorance by Trump Administration officials during Committee hearings, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies, sent a letter to Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), requesting specific information on cancelled and paused grant funding for ALS, childhood cancers, Alzheimer’s Disease, and congenital heart research. Durbin sent the letter to bring transparency to the Trump Administration’s chaotic and harmful attack on medical research, and in hopes that Dr. Bhattacharya will be adequately prepared to answer Senators’ questions during the Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on June 10 that will examine the Trump Administration’s proposed drastic cuts to NIH’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget.
“On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, you will appear before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies to discuss the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which would slash medical research funding by $18 billion, or 40 percent,” Durbin wrote.
Referencing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s inability to offer satisfactory answers to questions about cuts to medical research funding during an Appropriations Subcommittee hearing earlier this week, Durbin expressed frustration at HHS leadership and its nonchalant approach to slashing funding for life-saving medical research.
“During his appearance before the Subcommittee on May 20, 2025, I asked HHS Secretary Kennedy about reported cancellations and pauses to previously awarded NIH grants. He did not appear to have any familiarity with these disruptions to medical research funding, which raises serious concerns about the lack of accountability, oversight, and process for the reportedly hundreds, if not thousands, of affected research grants,” Durbin wrote.
Urging Dr. Bhattacharya to come prepared to the June 10 Committee hearing, Durbin requested a complete list of all cancelled or paused NIH grants and funding awards, since January 20, 2025, related to ALS, Alzheimer’s, childhood cancers, and congenital heart defect research. Despite repeated inquiries from congressional staff, the Trump Administration refuses to make public an accurate and comprehensive list of cancelled or paused NIH grants. Rather, the Administration deflects by falsely asserting that they’re only cutting out “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“Therefore, in advance of your hearing, I request that you provide me with a comprehensive list of all NIH grants and awards that have either been cancelled or paused since January 20, 2025, related to ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, childhood cancers, and congenital heart defect research. For each, please include an explanation as to why you decided that these grants or awards were no longer worthy of NIH funding, despite prior agency review and approval through a rigorous peer review process,” Durbin continued his letter.
“I request that you provide this information to my office no later than Friday, June 6, 2025. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and I look forward to discussing these terminated or paused grants with you on June 10, 2025. Families battling ALS, Alzheimer’s, childhood cancers, and congenital heart defects deserve this basic level of transparency,” Durbin concluded his letter.
Over the past decade, Durbin has pushed for annual, real five percent funding increases for NIH. Since Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15), because of Durbin’s efforts, Congress has provided NIH with a 60 percent increase in annual funding, raising the appropriations level from $30 billion in FY15 to $49 billion today. However, President Trump continues to target NIH, by cancelling hundreds of grant awards, firing or forcing out thousands of scientists, and freezing billions of dollars in research funding—which jeopardizes new breakthroughs that provide hope for patients. Additionally, President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request proposes slashing medical research funding at NIH by 40 percent, which would be the deepest funding cut in NIH history.
This year, Durbin has twice asked for unanimous consent (UC) to pass a resolution he introduced with U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), as well as 21 other Senators, that would pledge support for NIH. The resolution simply said that the work of NIH should not be subject to interruption, delay, or funding disruptions in violation of the law, and it reaffirmed that the NIH workforce is essential to sustaining medical progress. The first UC request was blocked by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) and the second was blocked by U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).
Durbin has long been a strong advocate for robust medical research. His legislation, the American Cures Act, would provide annual budget increases of five percent plus inflation at America’s top four biomedical research agencies: NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense Health Program, and the Veterans Medical and Prosthetics Research Program.
Full text of the letter follows:
May 23, 2025
Dear Director Bhattacharya:
On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, you will appear before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies to discuss the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which would slash medical research funding by $18 billion, or 40 percent.
During his appearance before the Subcommittee on May 20, 2025, I asked HHS Secretary Kennedy about reported cancellations and pauses to previously awarded NIH grants. He did not appear to have any familiarity with these disruptions to medical research funding, which raises serious concerns about the lack of accountability, oversight, and process for the reportedly hundreds, if not thousands, of affected research grants.
Therefore, in advance of your hearing, I request that you provide me with a comprehensive list of all NIH grants and awards that have either been cancelled or paused since January 20, 2025, related to ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, childhood cancers, and congenital heart defect research. For each, please include an explanation as to why you decided that these grants or awards were no longer worthy of NIH funding, despite prior agency review and approval through a rigorous peer review process. This limited and defined request does not represent the totality of cancelled or paused research grants pertaining to many other diseases and conditions that impact families nationwide. But, given how vast the devastation to medical research funding has been over the past few months, and the limited time we have to discuss such matters, I have limited my inquiry to these few devastating diagnoses.
I request that you provide this information to my office no later than Friday, June 6, 2025. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and I look forward to discussing these terminated or paused grants with you on June 10, 2025. Families battling ALS, Alzheimer’s, childhood cancers, and congenital heart defects deserve this basic level of transparency.
Sincerely,
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