Trump Administration Freezes $15 Billion NIH Research Grants Nationwide

The Trump administration has implemented a sweeping freeze on approximately $15 billion in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, halting all new research grants, contracts, and training fellowships for an unspecified duration. This directive, enforced by the Office of Management and Budget, threatens thousands of studies on critical diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's, and long COVID, severely narrowing the pipeline of federally funded biomedical research. The freeze comes amid broader budget cuts and a shift toward funding multiyear NIH grants with upfront lump sums, significantly lowering the success rate for grant applicants, particularly at the National Cancer Institute. Notably, the NIH canceled 45 nearly completed long COVID studies funded through the RECOVER initiative, drawing criticism for wasting resources and jeopardizing important scientific progress. These funding disruptions have sparked concerns among researchers and some lawmakers, with GOP senators demanding the full appropriated budget be spent and experts warning of long-term damage to U.S. biomedical research infrastructure. NIH leadership defends the cuts as a move to prioritize "meaningful outcomes," but the policy changes have been widely criticized as harmful to scientific advancement.