Biomedical Research Field ‘Dumbfounded’ By Trump’s Drastic Health Spending Cuts
The president's proposed budget is likely to be rewritten in Congress, though.
Los Angeles Times:
20% Cut To NIH Budget Would Leave Americans More Vulnerable To Cancer And Other Diseases, Experts Warn
A future in which cancers are cured, heart disease prevented and devastating brain disorders reversed may just have gotten a bit more distant, leaders of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations said Thursday. In a budget blueprint that promises to “make America great again,” the Trump administration has proposed to cut $5.8 billion from the National Institutes of Health’s budget for fiscal year 2018, reducing its total spending to $25.9 billion. That would represent a roughly 20% decrease from its 2017 spending on biomedical research, which totaled $31.7 billion. (Healy, 3/16)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
San Diego Researchers Condemn Trump's Proposed $5.8B NIH Funding Cut
San Diego’s huge bioscience industry expressed alarm Thursday about President Donald Trump’s proposed $5.8 billion or 18 percent cut in the National Institutes of Health funding...Researchers have depended on that growing budget, especially in San Diego County. Last year the NIH provided about $850 million to more than 90 institutes in San Diego County. The biggest recipient was UC San Diego, which received $409 million to study and treat everything from cancer and heart disease to lupus and schizophrenia. The Scripps Research Institute received $213.7 million. (Fikes and Robbins, 3/16)
The New York Times:
Scientists Bristle At Trump Budget’s Cuts To Research
Before he became president, Donald J. Trump called climate change a hoax, questioned the safety of vaccines and mocked renewable energy as a plaything of “tree-huggers.” So perhaps it is no surprise that Mr. Trump’s first budget took direct aim at basic scientific and medical research. Still, the extent of the cuts in the proposed budget unveiled early Thursday shocked scientists, researchers and program administrators. (Fountain and Schwartz, 3/16)
The Associated Press:
Trump Budget Would Force Tough Choices In Disease Research
What goes on the chopping block: Research into cancer or Alzheimer’s? A Zika vaccine or a treatment for superbugs? Health groups say President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash funds for the nation’s engine of biomedical research would be devastating for patients with all kinds of diseases — and for jobs. (Neergaard, 3/16)