NIH’s FY18 Budget Cut by Trump Administration

NIH’s FY18 Budget Cut by Trump Administration

On May 23, 2017, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued President Trump’s proposal for the Budget of the U.S. Government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The budget proposes significant cuts in funding for scientific research at various federal agencies. For example, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which supports environmental health sciences research, would see a twenty-five percent cut in its budget (compared to FY 2017 levels). This would have a major impact on its ability to fund both internal and external research. According to a 2018 report:

“[T]he 2018 budget would reduce by at least 20 percent the number of new NIEHS research awards, reduce by at least 20 percent the average size of a new NIEHS award . . . reduce the success rate for all new NIH awards (including NIEHS) to 13.7 percent from approximately 18 percent in FY 2016, and reduce NIEHS intramural . . . research by at least 20 percent.”