The Senate Appropriations Committee held an April 30 hearing, “Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation,” that focused on the importance of investing in biomedical research agencies and programs across the federal government, with particular focus on the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ahead of the hearing, the AAMC (PDF), the AAMC-led Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research (PDF), and the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (PDF), which includes the AAMC on its executive committee, submitted statements for the record highlighting how vital research taking place across government agencies and programs advances patient health and U.S. leadership in biomedical research.
Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) opened the hearing by calling biomedical research “an investment that pays greater dividends to American families than any other” and warned that recent policy changes, such as a proposed 15% cap on NIH facilities and administration cost reimbursement, would undermine the stability that has long supported the nation’s biomedical research enterprise. Collins highlighted the economic and health benefits of NIH-supported research and urged a reversal of efforts to reduce funding and the number of scientists at federal research agencies.
Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in her opening remarks stated that the administration has “taken a wrecking ball” to the biomedical research enterprise. Murray cited canceled grants, NIH staffing cuts, and halted peer review as examples of continued disruptions to research, stating, “We cannot afford to slow down — not now, not when so many lives hang in the balance.” Committee members on both sides of the aisle largely echoed the committee leaders’ comments, underscoring the potential for proposed cuts to drive talent away from careers in science.
Witnesses included leaders of scientific societies, research institutions, and a patient advocate. Witnesses described the costs of reduced investment to science and patients’ health, highlighting the importance of sustained federal support for early-career researchers, clinical trials, the research infrastructure that enables innovation—all essential for maintaining U.S. leadership in biomedical research.