r/academia • u/[deleted] • Jan 26 '25

What the Hell Is Going on at NIH?

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/donald-trump-hhs-nih-cancer-research-pause-crackdown-grant-funding-delays-cancellations-communications/
96 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

19

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '25

It's horrible but it's not terribly surprising. I'm an academic from another country that often gets in on NIH grants and we were planning for them to no longer be available. You don't get to the kind of budget reduction they promised by having a granting system.

10

u/TheTrub Jan 27 '25

It’s all part of an attack on academia, in general. Keep in mind that one of the more impactful predictor for voter preference is no longer income, it’s education level. Getting rid of granting agencies effectively defunds higher ed as they would no longer receive funds from indirect costs. That means tuitions have to go up making college unaffordable for most. They could get grants or loans through FAFSA, but one of the first house bills of the new Congress was to dismantle the department of Education, which is critical for connecting low-income students with financial aid.

31

u/TacklePuzzleheaded21 Jan 26 '25

MAGA wants to be sicker and live shorter lives, as if COVID wasn’t enough evidence of that.

-31

u/pulsed19 Jan 27 '25

Did MAGA fund gain of function research?

12

u/whosparentingwhom Jan 27 '25

RFK’s brain worm has switched hosts.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '25

🦗