Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday said the Trump administration’s moves to cut and delay National Institutes of Health funding show “who Trump’s hurting,” pointing to halted pediatric brain-cancer work in her home state and a wider pullback that researchers say is rippling through labs nationwide.
Freeze And Grant Cancellations Spark Broad Backlash
“Researchers at @UMassChan were finding cures to childhood cancer — then Trump brought that work to a halt. That’s who Trump’s hurting. Little kids with cancer,” Warren wrote in an X post, alongside a screenshot and a link to a New York Times report.
Benzinga reached out to the White House for comment on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s social media post.
The Trump administration, in late January, directed a freeze on external communications at federal health agencies, disrupting NIH’s grant review calendar. At UMass Chan Medical School, officials have warned of funding delays and a shortfall tied to the slowdown in new awards, including pediatric cancer projects.
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Administration Cites Reprioritization Of Core Scientific Priorities
The pullback has been costly. In August, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to cancel about $783 million in NIH grants in a case centered on diversity-related funding, even as other litigation continues. A Government Accountability Office filing in early August documented grant terminations and the sequence of agency directives.
The administration has defended its approach as a reprioritization of “core science,” including proposals to cap “indirect” overhead costs so more dollars reach experiments. A lawsuit over those caps prompted a temporary restraining order in February. States and universities argued the change would shutter labs.
Bipartisan Alarm And Capitol Hill Budget Fights Intensify
The White House has not detailed how many projects remain paused, but agency data show thousands of grants reviewed or modified since winter, with courts, Congress and universities still contesting the scope of cuts.
Concerns have spilled across party lines. A group of 14 Senate Republicans urged faster NIH disbursements over the summer, warning of disruptions to cancer and rare-disease studies. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and other Democrats called the cuts “illegal” and “indiscriminate.”
Warren’s critique also adds to weeks of political pressure in matters of health care funding. Related fights over health costs and Affordable Care Act subsidies have already spilled into shutdown talks on Capitol Hill.
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