Oregon AG Joins Lawsuit Against trump Administration for Sabotaging NIH Grants and Stifling Medical Research

Joining a coalition of 15 attorneys general yesterday, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield is suing the Trump Administration over its unlawful attempt to disrupt grant funding issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through intentional unreasonable delays in reviewing NIH grant applications and termination of hundreds of already-issued grants.

AG Coalition Lawsuit Against Trump Administration National Health Issues

The latest lawsuit over illegal funding cuts and medical and public health research delays was launched in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.

It follows Rayfield’s joining a separate lawsuit to rectify the ‘assault on the well-being of all Americans’ caused by a $12 billion in health grant cuts.

The Massachusetts lawsuit seeks to compel the Administration to promptly review and issue decisions on delayed grant applications and prohibit termination of already-awarded grants. The AGs aver that:

• NIH grant applications generally have two layers of review- one by a “study section” of subject-matter experts who assess the scientific merit of the proposal and a second by an advisory council that considers funding availability and agency priorities.  The new Trump Administration canceled upcoming meetings for both review bodies in January and has delayed scheduling future sessions.
• The NIH has indefinitely withheld final decisions on applications that have already received approval from the relevant study section and advisory council. Billions of dollars in requested research funding are currently in limbo.
• The NIH terminated large swaths of already-issued grants for projects that are currently underway based on the projects’ perceived connection to “DEI,” “transgender issues,” “vaccine hesitancy,” or other issues disfavored by the current Administration. The NIH issued boilerplate letters to grant recipients canceling projects and indicating that the project “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”
• The AGs said the Trump Administration has used shoddy excuses to claw back millions of dollars already awarded for public health needs and argue that the NIH has not met its statutory obligations and violated regulations by postponing meetings, delaying the review of pending applications, failing to issue final recommendations, and terminating issued grants. The Administration does not have the authority to unilaterally decline spending congressionally appropriated funds.

AG Rayfield said Oregon’s researchers deserve the necessary resources to make breakthroughs without being held hostage by political games. He said, “This administration thinks they can play games with public health and research, but they’re messing with the future of science and the well-being of Oregonians.”