The Wisconsin Technology Council is urging the state’s congressional delegation to push for restoring National Institutes of Health funding and preventing similar cuts from being made elsewhere.
After the NIH on Friday announced cuts to grants that help cover indirect R&D costs for medical research institutions, the Tech Council sent a statement to Wisconsin’s federal lawmakers warning the move will “cause immediate and likely lasting harm” to biomedical research in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
The group is calling on the delegation to reverse the funding cut — which caps the indirect cost rate at 15% for NIH grants — and ensure similar cuts aren’t made to other agencies such as the National Science Foundation. The NSF provides funding for science and engineering research in all areas except medical, which is covered by the NIH.
“Not only will the reduction adversely affect Americans of all ages, but people around the world who also benefit from the U.S. biomedical research engine,” the Tech Council wrote. “It will weaken one of the nation’s biggest competitive advantages at a time when such edges help to set our economy apart.”
This appeal comes as Wisconsin is joining a multi-state settlement seeking to keep the Trump administration from “gutting funding for life-saving medical research,” Gov. Tony Evers’ office said yesterday. The announcement noted the impact in Wisconsin, focusing on UW-Madison and other Universities of Wisconsin campuses.
And it’s not just UW institutions that will be affected, the Tech Council notes. Other private institutions in the state that get federal R&D dollars include the Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Marshfield Clinic Health System.
The NIH in fiscal year 2023 put more than $35 billion toward nearly 50,000 grants, which collectively involve more than 300,000 researchers across 2,500 research institutions, according to the Tech Council’s statement. Of that total, $26 billion covered direct research costs while the other $9 billion went to overhead or “indirect costs” targeted by the funding cut.
“The change announced Feb. 7 means research institutions must quickly find billions of dollars from other sources to support laboratories, students and staff – putting projects at risk,” the Tech Council wrote.
