Government: The Trump administration has proposed a budget cut of $7 million for the NIH over the next 18 months, with most cuts coming from overhead costs such as equipment and electricity bills. The decrease in government funding is a stark contrast from last year, when academic institutions received $16.9 billion for research and $6.4 billion for operational costs. Numerous researchers and administrators in academic institutions across the US have been voicing their concerns, emphasizing that basic costs for research, such as keeping labs warm and freezers functioning, are imperative to their research. MIT, for example, receives 66% of its total research funding from the government, and if the Trump administration’s proposal is implemented, the institution would not receive the vast majority of funding it needs to carry out research. There are a few Republicans in Congress that do not support the Trump administration’s proposed cut, so it is currently unclear if the proposal will be implemented. Supporters of the proposed budget decrease state that universities end up making profits off of the “indirect costs,” such as overhead and infrastructure costs, and that the proposed cut will force universities to rethink their regulatory processes for building and maintaining labs.
Source: Stat News