Letter to Congress on FY 2026 NIH Funding

Testimony from the American Physiological Society on the FY 2026 budget of the National Institutes of Health, prepared for the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies. 

The American Physiological Society (APS) writes to express its strong support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and urges the Subcommittee to fully fund the agency at $51.3 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2026, to ensure that its funds are used to advance science, and to oppose reckless restructuring of the agency. Thanks to consistent investment through congressionally appropriated funds, the NIH has driven U.S. leadership in biomedical research and innovation for decades, fueling economic growth and delivering life-saving cures. However, recent actions taken by NIH have resulted in withholding of appropriated funds and abrupt cancellation of grants, shaking the confidence the scientific community has placed in the agency. The deep cuts proposed in the President’s budget would dismantle American scientific leadership and cause damage to the nation’s scientific ecosystem that would take years to rebuild.

Fully fund the NIH at $51.3 billion for FY 2026

Investments at NIH drive economic growth and provide jobs in all 50 states. It is estimated that each dollar spent at NIH drives $2.56 of economic activity, and in FY 2024 the NIH supported over 400,000 jobs across the country.[1] Cutting the agency’s budget by 40%, as proposed in the President’s FY 2026 budget request, would cause massive job losses in every state.[2] Furthermore, the absence of new funding opportunities would shut down the nation’s scientific training pipeline and cause many highly trained researchers and medical experts to seek jobs in other countries. The loss of STEM talent would dampen private industry’s willingness to invest[3],[4] and exacerbate existing talent shortages in government.

While other countries, including China, continue to ramp up investments in research, U.S. scientific leadership grows more precarious. The next generation of scientists is already at risk. Scientific training programs have begun to cut back on the number of student positions offered, and many early-career researchers are considering other fields. Only by maintaining robust funding for NIH can the U.S. keep its competitive edge in medical innovation and retain the expertise needed to tackle public health challenges.

Ensure that grant funds are available to researchers

In recent months, researchers across the country have found themselves unable to access the funds they need to conduct research and pay salaries. More than 1,300 grants have been abruptly cancelled since February, including research on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer, and payments have failed to be distributed on time for at least 1,000 additional grants.[5] NIH policy on indirect costs has threatened to cut billions in funding necessary for maintaining facilities and equipment.[6] These funding uncertainties directly impact research timelines and hiring decisions, and inconsistent communication has left researchers uncertain how to navigate funding issues. 

Research projects take a long time to plan and execute, and even short-term disruptions can set research back by years. While cuts and delays to research funding have been justified as preventing wasteful spending and promoting government efficiency, the effect is the opposite. A brief pause in a project might mean that new clinical samples need to be collected and processed, expired reagents need to be re-purchased, and incomplete experiments need to be completely restarted. If new staff are needed, it may take months to train them to perform highly technical protocols. Researchers rely on consistent and predictable grant funding to make long-term strategic decisions in the lab that minimize wasted time and materials.

Oppose reckless restructuring without transparency

The FY 2026 U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) budget request has proposed a radical restructuring of the NIH that would reduce its 27 institutes and centers (ICs) to just 8. This proposal was developed without input from the research community and with no transparency to its methodology. The barebones outlines in the FY 2026 Congressional Justification provides scant rationale for the restructuring plan and fails to estimate the costs or even the potential benefits to organizational efficiency. Any significant change to an organization the size and scope of NIH runs the risk of major disruptions as staff are moved and re-trained. The magnitude of the proposed changes could paralyze the agency and cause U.S. biomedical science to grind to a halt.

The scientific community is not opposed to considering updates and refinements to NIH operations, such as those that would improve grant management or reduce administrative burden for grantees. Sen. Cassidy recently worked with the community to identify policies to address the agency’s shortcomings,[7] and APS offered several recommendations.[8] We encourage Congress to continue an open dialogue with researchers and to oppose the reorganization of NIH without transparency and without stakeholder input.

APS strongly urges Congress to take swift action to bolster the NIH. Every further disruption to funding, whether through grant cancellations, administrative delays, or impoundment of funds, represents a delay to a cure and diminishes the economy. Congress should protect the bipartisan investment in biomedical research it has built over decades by fully funding the NIH, ensuring that its grant money is appropriately disbursed to researchers, and rejecting restructuring plans developed without transparency.

Founded in 1887, APS is home to more than 8,300 members and 80,000 authors. These researchers work in universities and hospitals advancing research and patient care, government agencies supporting public health and safety, and private industry developing new treatments. We believe in science—and the researchers working across all 50 states whose innovations lead to discoveries that shape a healthier, brighter future for all Americans.