Senate Budget Passed Today Defends National Institutes of Health From Sweeping Trump Cuts

Senate Budget Passed Today Defends National Institutes of Health From Sweeping Trump Cuts

Minibus bill provides $48.7B in base discretionary funding for NIH - avoiding Trump's proposed $17B gut of the agency that would have undermined lifesaving medical research; NIH funds research at the UW, Fred Hutch, Seattle Children's, PNNL, and more

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the United States Senate passed a package of budget bills that includes $48.716 billion in base discretionary funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is $415 million more than the previous fiscal year.

The Senate rejected President Donald Trump's sweeping proposed cuts to NIH - his budget would have slashed the agency's budget by 40%, drastically reducing resources for lifesaving medical research.

"Medical research gives hope to millions of Americans suffering from disease, and our scientists are pioneering life-saving treatments that would be lost if we fail to invest in science. That's why it was so important for Congress to stand together and reject President Trump's attempt to slash NIH's budget by 40%. This funding package shows that there remains strong bipartisan congressional support and understanding of the importance of supporting innovation and progress in medicine and healthcare," said U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee.

Nationwide, NIH is the largest public health funder of medical research. In the State of Washington, the agency funds organizations including the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Washington Public Health Laboratories, and more. Across Washington state, NIH funding supports over 12,000 jobs and more than $3 billion in economic activity.

In September, Sen. Cantwell sharply criticized U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, calling him a "charlatan" over his decision to cancel nearly $500 million in needed mRNA vaccine research funding - research that would help the United States better prepare for the next pandemic.

In May 2025, President Trump released a budget proposal that would have cut NIH research funding by $17.97 billion and "reformed" the agency so that its remaining $27 billion for research aligned with his administration's priorities. His budget also proposed more than $3.5 billion in cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In March 2025, Sen. Cantwell invited Washington state cancer surgeon Paul Lange to President Trump's State of the Union address to draw attention to the proposed NIH cuts, as well as proposed cuts to the National Science Foundation - cuts that the Senate was also able to prevent in a previous minibus that passed Jan. 15.

In February 2025, Sen. Cantwell joined the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in sending a letter to (HHS) Secretary Kennedy expressing serious alarm over the Trump Administration's decisions that threatened to undermine America's life-saving biomedical research infrastructure, in violation of federal law. The letter followed her strong opposition to RFK Jr.'s nomination, which she articulated in a speech on the Senate floor:

"Now we are at the possibility of the beginning of another crisis, the avian flu. This crisis is yet another reminder of the importance of medical research and collaboration," said Sen. Cantwell in her speech. "Does it make sense to cut science at the time we might have another pandemic? Does it make sense to continue to cut the collaborative efforts of research?"