Tuberville Speaks with NIH Director About Improving Research Transparency

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) participated in a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing with the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. During the hearing, Sen. Tuberville asked Dr. Bhattacharya questions about improving research transparency, gain-of-function research, and ending the use of aborted human fetal tissue in scientific research.

Read Sen. Tuberville's remarks below or on YouTube or Rumble.

ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

TUBERVILLE: "Doctor, thanks for being here today. Thanks for coming to my state of Alabama not too long ago. I hear you had a great visit. And thanks for trying to put the genie back in the bottle on trust in my state. Nobody trusts health care anymore. It's been a disaster. The four years, five years of COVID has put us in a tailspin. So, thank you for trying to work with that. Hopefully, we can all help you with in that situation because we need to believe in our healthcare system.

NIH is accelerating public access to federally funded research by removing temporary delays known as 'embargo periods,' allowing taxpayers to see results sooner, and increasing transparency. Do you think making NIH funding research immediately available would help rebuild trust among Americans who feel science has become politicized or disconnected from the public?"

BHATTACHARYA: "Absolutely, yes. There's no reason why there should be red tape when American-funded science then is published and then you have to wait to, like, see it. It's ridiculous. And we've ended that, Senator."

TUBERVILLE: "Thank you."

ON ENDING USE OF HUMAN FETAL TISSUE IN RESEARCH

TUBERVILLE: "A couple weeks ago, you announced that NIH was ending the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortions and all taxpayer funded research conducted or funded by NIH. I'm grateful that you took action to prevent tax dollars from being used for research that exploits the remains of aborted children. Can you please explain how advances in technology and innovation allow us to conduct lifesaving medical research without having this?"

BHATTACHARYA: "Absolutely, Senator. So, we did an analysis and, actually, even when it was legal during the Biden administration, the use of human fetal tissue had been plummeting because there are better alternatives available that are not ethically conflicted. And, so, we took this action because we wanted to make sure that the fruits of NIH research was morally acceptable to the entire American population."

TUBERVILLE: "Thank you."

ON MEDICAL SCHOOL GRANT DISPARITY

TUBERVILLE: "You know, my state has two schools of osteopathic medicine. The funding for osteopathic medicine is .1% of NIH funding, while MD-graining schools are receiving roughly 40%. What's your thoughts on that disparity between the two?"

BHATTACHARYA: "I think generally that the NIH portfolio of research investments outside are too concentrated in a relatively few institutions. I think it's like 20% of the top institutions- I'm sorry, .4% of the top institutions get 20% of our funding for extramural research. I'm thinking of ways to broaden the base of that so that it includes a much larger range of ideas, a much larger set of places than is currently where that currently enjoys NIH funding."

TUBERVILLE: "Thank you."

ON GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH

TUBERVILLE: "And one quick question too. You said earlier that Gain-of-function research was not being funded. Is that just domestically or worldwide?"

BHATTACHARYA: "Well, I don't have control over all the whole world's research investments, but I'd love figure out ways-"

TUBERVILLE: "No. But our money, though, our money that we're investing."

BHATTACHARYA: "Yeah, we're not gonna fund any dangerous sort of Gain-of-function. No more futures of research programs in Wuhan, China."

TUBERVILLE: "Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Chairman."

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

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