Federal judge grants restraining order on NIH funding cuts

A federal judge in Massachusetts has granted a restraining order against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its recent research funding cut after 22 states filed a lawsuit to block the order.

U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley, nominated by former President Biden, granted a request for a temporary restraining order issued Friday on NIH's Rate Change Notice, which cut indirect cost rates to a standard rate of 15 percent. This funding went toward administrative and facility costs of conducting research.

On Monday, the attorneys general for 22 states filed a lawsuit to block the order, with Kelley's order coming less than a day after it was filed.

"Defendants and their officers, employees, servants, agents, appointees, and successors are hereby enjoined from taking any steps to implement, apply, or enforce the Rate Change Notice (NOT-OD-25- 068) within Plaintiff States until further order is issued by this Court," Kelley's order stated.

The judge gave NIH until Friday to file an opposition to the motion. The Hill has reached out to NIH for comment, though federal health agencies typically do not comment on pending litigation.

"The effects of the Rate Change Notice will be immediate and devastating," the attorneys general warned in their suit.

"Medical schools, universities, research institutions, and other grant recipients across the country have already budgeted for (and incurred obligations based on) the specific indirect cost rates that had been negotiated and formalized with the federal government through the designated statutory and regulatory legal process," they added.

"This agency action will result in layoffs, suspension of clinical trials, disruption of ongoing research programs, and laboratory closures."

Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Katie Britt (Ala.) expressed concern over the funding cuts on Monday, with Collins saying she opposed the "poorly conceived directive."

Britt said in an interview that the funding cuts should be carried out with a targeted approach in order to "not hinder lifesaving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama."

Collins on Monday told CNN's Manu Raju that she would vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Health and Human Services secretary after he told her that he would "reexamine" the funding cuts if confirmed.

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