September 2017

The ATS joined a letter to the Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, MD expressing strong opposition to the President's FY2018 budget proposal to cut NIH funding by 21 percent and reduce NIH support for facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, known as indirect costs. The President's FY2018 budget proposes to cap all NIH indirect costs at 10 percent of total grant costs. The letter, signed by 109 national organizations, urges the administration to reconsider the budget proposals and to instead strengthen medical research.

In the letter, the groups state, "If the Administration's proposal to reduce NIH support for F&A moves forward, it will make research unaffordable for many institutions and ultimately lead to less research carried out across the country." The letter also points out the economic impact to jobs in communities. "These consequences will hurt patients, scientists and all Americans," the letter states.

Both the Senate and the House FY2018 health spending bill reject the President's budget proposals to cap NIH indirects and reduce the agency's budget by 21 percent.