Get the latest news from our field
Following the funding cuts and terminations at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) last year, the agency and the researchers who rely on it have not recovered, and questions remain about NIH funds going forward.
The details:
- Nearly halfway into FY 2026, NIH is far behind on grant spending. As of March 3, the agency had doled out 74% fewer competitive awards than the average for the same period in 2021-2024. The monetary value of those awards is 62% below the average for those previous years. Reasons for the lag could include the government shutdown last fall, last year’s layoffs of NIH staffers, confusion on guidance for grant reviewers, and delays in issuing notices of funding opportunities.
- The White House Office of Management and Budget had delayed signing off on NIH’s spending on grants, but it finally did so last week. NIH will now be able to spend the $48.7 billion Congress appropriated for 2026.
- A nationwide survey of federally funded researchers found that the changes to science funding are causing researchers to scale back their work or shut down their labs entirely. More than a quarter of respondents have laid off lab members, and more than 2 in 5 have cancelled planned research. Just 35% of respondents whose grants were cut or delayed said their government funding had been fully restored by the end of 2025.
What’s coming: Consideration of FY 2027 funding is underway.
- The White House has yet to release its budget request for next year, but Congress rejected deep cuts to NIH that the administration requested for 2026.
- At a House Appropriations health subcommittee oversight hearing last week, members of Congress urged NIH Director Bhattacharya to spend the funding they allocated for 2026. Bhattacharya said the funding Congress appropriated will go out by the end of the year.
Published
March 2026