(The Center Square) – Attorneys general from 22 states sued the Trump administration Monday for cutting federal funding to public health research universities and institutions across the country.
The National Institutes of Health announced in a post Friday on X that it was slashing funding for these institutions’ “indirect costs” – monies used for “administrative overhead” – by lowering the maximum indirect cost rate to 15%.
“Last year, $9B of the $35B that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted for research was used for administrative overhead, what is known as “indirect costs,” the post read. “This change will save more than $4B a year effective immediately.”
It also showed that Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins University have had indirect cost rates between 60% and 70%
Because the Institutes announced the change on Friday and said it would be effective Monday, the states argue the administration is violating the Administrative Procedure Act and are seeking a court order halting the action. They also say the funding directly supports life-saving research efforts by reducing organizations’ lab, faculty, infrastructure and utility costs and the cuts are “putting the public health… at risk.”
“These dangerous proposed cuts are indiscriminate and without purpose,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessle, a lead attorney general on the lawsuit. “They will cost jobs here in Michigan and will hamper tens of thousands of research projects – many of which are currently underway and focus on improving health outcomes and preventing death.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. The Massachusetts, Illinois and Michigan attorneys general are leading the lawsuit joined by the attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
