Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), recently released a report detailing the Trump administration’s ongoing war on science. HELP minority staff studied previous years’ spending, analyzed data on grant cancellations, and conducted interviews with current and former officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Although the report recognizes the widespread consequences of the administration’s actions thus far, it shines a spotlight on the devastation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Sanders and his staff conclude that rather than making America healthy again, Trump’s war on science is only making Americans – and people around the world – sicker.
The report outlines four key findings:
- The administration is defunding medical research, effectively cutting nearly $3 billion in NIH funding during the first three months of 2025. Additionally, NIH has formally terminated at least 715 research grants, many of which focus on critical health challenges such as mental health and cancer. The administration has also proposed capping indirect cost rates at 15 percent, which would devastate the infrastructure at many of our top research institutions. Additionally, the administration has shut down several intramural labs at NIH, discarding decades of taxpayer investment.
- The administration is silencing federal scientists by limiting typical staff interactions with the media, controlling how scientists work together and make decisions, and erasing scientific data. Since Inauguration Day, the administration has required scientific staff at HHS agencies, including NIH, to clear all public-facing communication with political appointees, a dramatic departure from standard practice. Furthermore, scientific decision-making has been hampered by the delay or cancellation of advisory council meetings and grant review panels.
- The administration is sowing chaos by arbitrarily firing thousands of workers and thus disrupting the day-to-day activities of federal health and science agencies. Already, HHS has lost at least 20,000 employees – the majority of whom has been forced out via termination, retirement, or resignation – and more layoffs may be on the way if Schedule F goes through as planned. According to the report, in addition to the internal chaos at HHS, other consequences of the staff layoffs include “paralyzing the public health response, gutting scientific infrastructure, and raising prescription drug prices.”
- The administration is spreading misinformation that is harmful to Americans’ health and wellbeing. In particular, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has undermined the importance of vaccines in preventing outbreaks of diseases such as measles. Trump officials have also lied about the consequences of their actions at federal health agencies.
The report ends with a call for Congress, the scientific community, and the American people to “stand up and fight back” against the Trump administration, or else the consequences of this war on science will be felt for years to come.
