From Ars Technica · · 2m
Trump official seeks veto power over all NIH grants
Russell Vought wants to control every research grant at the nation's largest biomedical funder, bypassing scientific merit.
In brief
Russell Vought wants to control every research grant at the nation's largest biomedical funder, bypassing scientific merit. A new executive order could give a political appointee veto power over 64,000+ annual NIH grants, likely violating administrative law but potentially causing damage before courts intervene…
Political appointee seeks grant veto
Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, is pushing an executive order that would give him veto power over every individual grant awarded by the NIH, the world's largest biomedical research funder.
NIH director pushes back
Jay Bhattacharya, director of the NIH, objected to Vought's plan in a White House meeting, but reportedly lost the fight. The two will now sit on a committee that must unanimously approve grants.
Vought's repeated attempts to control research
After Trump took office, Vought terminated broad grants on pandemic preparedness and health disparities, proposed cutting the NIH budget nearly in half, and tried to make political considerations key in funding decisions. Congress and courts blocked those moves.
Harvard became the leverage point
Vought pitched the grant veto as a way to target Harvard University, which Trump has demanded payment from. Harvard declined Trump's earlier settlement demands and won a lawsuit restoring its NIH funding.
The practical problem
The NIH funds over 64,000 grants annually. Vought and Bhattacharya would need to personally review each one, making serious evaluation nearly impossible. The system could leave the NIH unable to spend its full budget.
Merit review system at risk
Currently, expert peer reviewers assign scientific merit scores to determine funding. Vought has also tried to limit peer review, making it unclear if rejected grants could be replaced with higher-quality unfunded proposals.
Courts will likely strike it down
Legal experts say the executive order fits the standard for illegal administrative action: arbitrary and capricious. It solves no problems and has no legal justification, but damage could occur before courts intervene.
The NIH's massive role in research
The NIH's 47 billion dollar budget is larger than the next 10 research funders combined. Its grants support everything from basic biology to clinical trials and have helped the biotechnology industry flourish.
The takeaway
A new executive order could give a political appointee veto power over 64,000+ annual NIH grants, likely violating administrative law but potentially causing damage before courts intervene.
