Senate Appropriators Hold Hearing on Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation
On April 30, Senate Appropriators held a bipartisan hearing on Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation where they invited several witnesses from the scientific community, including Dr. Sudip Parikh, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Dr. Hermann Haller, President of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Dr. Cartier Esham, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Barry Paul Sleckman, Director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Emily Stenson, a patient advocate.
During the hearing, several members of the committee across the aisle voiced support for biomedical research. In her opening remarks, Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) emphasized how detrimental recent proposals from the Trump Administration, including a 15 percent cap on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indirect costs, could be to the U.S. scientific research enterprise. Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) echoed these concerns, adding that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been “cutting critical research without rhyme, reason, or any regard for who gets hurt.”
Some Republicans indicated support for the budget cuts, including Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), who pressed Parikh on his pushback against capping NIH indirect costs, comparing NIH to other organizations with lower caps. To this end, Parikh argued that the comparison could not be made due to the differences between what is considered an indirect cost versus a direct cost across organizations, calling it “apples to oranges.” However, many Republicans cautioned against budget cuts that could hinder future biomedical innovation, including Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
The committee is expected to hold a second hearing on biomedical research, but it has yet to be scheduled. Find more of COSSA’s coverage of Congressional hearings here.