Trump Administration Illegally Cut NIH Grants: Watchdog

Officials cut more than 1,800 grants under orders from Trump.

The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., on May 30, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The government illegally terminated National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, a watchdog said on Aug. 5.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the NIH’s parent agency, and the NIH canceled grants without going through the process required by a federal law called the Impoundment Control Act, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report.

The law requires a president seeking to withhold funds appropriated by Congress to notify lawmakers that they are either temporarily withholding the money or wanting a permanent cancellation of the funds. President Donald Trump never sent such a notification.

There are also limits on when funds can be withheld, and those circumstances were not met for the grant terminations or for a pause on reviewing new grants, GAO stated.

“NIH’s actions show sufficient evidence that it withheld budget authority from obligation or expenditure. This withholding is inconsistent with the requirements of the [law],” it said.

The grant terminations stemmed from executive orders from Trump directing officials to cut grants and contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. HHS also told NIH and other agencies to stop publishing notices for grant review meetings, which resulted in a pause in grant reviews and caused the NIH to obligate nearly $8 billion less from February to June than it did across the same time period in 2024, according to the report.

HHS told GAO in a letter obtained by The Epoch Times that there was a “short delay” in scheduling and holding grant review meetings but that NIH has caught up from the pause. Officials have issued 5,252 new grants since the pause was implemented, according to the agency.

GAO said the response “showed no sufficient justification” for the pause and that officials also did not outline information about the obligation of NIH funds for the current fiscal year.

GAO’s findings are not binding.

GAO has previously determined that the government illegally withheld funding from the federal child care program Head Start and from a program to build more electric vehicle charging stations.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement after the latest report was released that “it is critical President Trump reverse course, stop decimating the NIH, and get every last bit of ... funding out.”

Courts have determined that the grant terminations were illegal and ordered the government to reinstate them for now. Government lawyers in July asked the Supreme Court to let the NIH keep the cancellations in place.

“Following the change in Administration, the NIH identified, explained, and pursued new funding priorities. That is democracy at work,” a brief reads.