A federal judge ordered Trump’s administration to maintain a plan that will reduce $ 4 billion in federal funding for research at nation universities, cancer centers and hospitals.
Chapters disbursed by the National Institutes of Health cover the administrative and general expenses for a huge biomedical research, some of which are addressed to the treatment of diseases such as cardiovascular conditions, cancer and diabetes.
The mandate was issued by Judge Angel Kelley for the US District Court in Boston late Monday night, responding to a lawsuit filed by university associations and major research centers that argued that the “blatant illegal action” by US health officials It will destroy medical research at the universities of America. ”
The temporary restraint order by Judge Kelley, a Biden appointment, was expanded with a similar mandate granted earlier on Monday after about two dozen general lawyers sued to stop cuts in their states.
Trump’s management plan to cover the agreed payments received by universities and health systems to support research shocked the academic medical world when it was announced abruptly on Friday.
Academic researchers and academic officials predicted that the plan would close valuable studies, cost thousands of jobs and make the United States in competitive efforts to achieve medical discoveries.
The plan is implemented at $ 9 billion of the $ 35 billion grants issued to research institutions. This quarter of the total research funding supports the so -called indirect expenses applicable to administrative expenses, including, for example, staff and labor or laboratory work and maintenance.
Trump’s administration said it wanted to reduce such funds by about half, by about $ 4 billion.
Funding for general expenses has been criticized in the past. And the opposition in the chapters emerged in the plan of the project 2025 for conservative policies, suggesting that the funding of the NIH survey gave excessive support to the “left” universities.
On Friday, Katie Miller, a member of Elon Musk’s effort to reduce the size of the federal government, published in the social media: “President Trump is removed from the Slush Filenal Dei Deans”.
Universities hold a strongly different view. Chapters argue scientific discoveries that “they are becoming more frequent and more frequent,” said Dr. Alan M. Garber, president of Harvard University, in a statement on Sunday.
“In a period of rapid steps in quantum information technology, artificial intelligence, brain science, biological imaging and regenerative biology, and when other nations expand their investment in science, America should not knowingly and willingly fall out of the leadership. Her position on the endless border, “Dr. Garber said.
The plaintiffs, including the Association of US Medical Colleges and the American Association of College of Pharmaceuticals, claimed that the sudden reduction in funding would “destroy” critical research and ultimately force universities to dismiss staff, close laboratories and laboratories Overall.
In a lawsuit -related legal note, universities claimed that funds were essential in research, including facilities where animal laboratories were undergoing clinical trials, for IT systems analyzing large amounts of data, for blood banks and other expenses that cannot be directly tied up with a single project.
If funding cuts were to survive legal challenges, the plaintiffs wrote: “The research laboratories would literally go dark due to lack of electricity.”
Smaller institutions, which they supported may not be able to maintain any research and “could close completely”.
Congress destroyed a previous attempt during President Trump’s first term to reduce indirect investigation funding. Legislators added measures to the budget accounts to ensure that the funds remained at the levels agreed by researchers and federal officials.
In the lawsuit, the Universities Association argued that the current proposal violated Congress’s will and also defied the standard administrative procedures.
When granting the temporary interruption of cuts, Judge Kelley ruled that the plaintiffs would “maintain immediate and irreparable injury”.
A listening date was set for February 21.
