A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from implementing steep cuts to federal grant funding for research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston issued a nationwide injunction after 22 Democratic state attorneys general and groups representing medical schools and universities challenged the cuts, arguing they were unlawful.
Kelley, appointed by Joe Biden, had temporarily halted the cuts on February 10 while hearing arguments in the case. She later extended that order before deciding on the longer-term injunction.
The lawsuit followed NIH’s February 7 announcement that it would significantly reduce the rate at which it reimbursed research institutions for “indirect costs”—expenses tied to laboratory space, faculty, equipment, and infrastructure. The Trump administration set a 15% cap on reimbursement, down from an average of 27%-28%, a move NIH said would save $4 billion annually.
In fiscal 2023, NIH awarded more than $35 billion in grants to researchers at over 2,500 institutions, with approximately $9 billion allocated for overhead and indirect costs, according to the agency.
