STAT+: Bhattacharya demurs on his view on Trump’s slashing of NIH indirect costs
President Trump's nominee to lead the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, demurred on his view on Trump’s move to slashi NIH indirect cost payments to universities and other instituions.
Senators from both parties on Wednesday pressed Jay Bhattacharya, President Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, about whether he supported the agency’s plan to slash the overhead payments that accompany NIH grants, with Bhattacharya avoiding saying what he thought about the move.
The NIH last month said grants would start coming with a 15% add-on to cover indirect costs, money that universities and medical centers use to pay for administrative and facility support and other expenses not directly tied to a specific project. Because indirect cost rates with the NIH typically land between 30% and 70%, the step in effect would cut billions in funding that go to institutions. Universities individually negotiate their indirect cost rate with the federal government.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan while she reviews a suit filed by a range of state attorneys general and research institutes. But the proposal has unleashed deep concern that academic centers would have to greatly cut back on the research they pursue and the number of scientists they support, even drawing some criticism from Republican lawmakers.
