Community Letter supporting biomedical research funding at the National Institutes of Health

Dear Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, Leader Thune, and Leader Schumer:

The undersigned patient advocacy, research and other professional organizations, representing a broad range of medical and public health interests, write to you today to express our strong support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and express our strong concerns about actions being taken by NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) now to prevent or delay legally appropriated funds from being spent in fiscal year (FY) 2025. Additionally, we oppose the proposals from the Trump Administration for FY 2026 to implement significant cuts and a reorganization of NIH. We assert that these cuts and restructuring plans, developed without Congressional or stakeholder expertise, will essentially dismantle NIH as we know it, preventing the agency from conducting lifesaving research and fulfilling training objectives in accordance with statutory requirements. We urge Congress to act now to protect this vital agency by addressing the following three issues: