01/27/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/27/2025 10:45
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks (both D-MD) wrote Acting Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Dorothy Fink urging the agency to immediately and completely restore operations at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to prevent further research disruptions. The lawmakers stressed that the immediate restoration of agency operations will ensure that NIH can continue to fulfill its mission of advancing lifesaving, world-class medical research for the American people.
The letter follows recent reporting that new restrictions on NIH imposed by the Trump-Vance Administration, including a freeze on all external HHS communications and the suspension of critical meetings, have already sharply disrupted operations and the research grant process, producing administrative chaos that jeopardizes NIH's mission in the short and long term.
"Without quick corrective action, the consequences of further disruption could be disastrous for both medical progress in America and our nation's overall standing and competitiveness on the world stage," wrote the lawmakers. "We therefore urge you to restore full operations at NIH, including by promptly ending the external communications freeze across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and resuming federal advisory committees, study sections, patient engagement, and travel for staff at NIH."
The lawmakers continued, "...NIH is the world's preeminent medical research agency and has flourished thanks to longstanding bipartisan support of its mission. Research conducted or supported by NIH has led to extraordinary medical innovations, including new lifesaving treatments for cancer - including childhood cancers - as well as HIV/AIDS and heart disease. 174 NIH or NIH-backed scientists have received the Nobel Prize. NIH's work is crucial to maintaining America's global leadership and ensuring that our country remains the world's engine of medical innovation."
Critically, the letter urges HHS to swiftly end the external communications freeze across the Department and resume federal advisory committees, study sections, patient engagement, and travel for staff at NIH.
The letter is available here.
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