The National Institutes of Health operates with a $47.5 billion budget, directing over 80 percent toward grants supporting biomedical research. Despite maintaining this overall funding level and existing institute structure through congressional action, experts report significant disruptions to the research ecosystem under the current administration.
While Congress preserved the NIH’s budget appropriations and rejected proposed restructuring plans, the agency has fallen substantially behind its historical pace in obligating those funds to specific projects. As of July in the current fiscal year, the NIH had obligated approximately half its budget, with billions remaining unspent. This represents a consistent pattern of delays, with the agency running roughly 42 days behind the average pace established between 2021 and 2024.
A former director of extramural operations at the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute described additional layers of grant review that have slowed the approval process. She noted that grants now undergo scrutiny beyond the traditional peer-review system, sometimes getting flagged by multiple oversight bodies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget. Staffing reductions have compounded these delays, with one institute reducing its grants-management specialists from 11 to 3 positions.
Multi-year grant renewals, which typically fund ongoing research and employee salaries, now frequently arrive 90 or more days late—occurring four to six times more frequently than in previous years. While some institutions provide temporary bridge funding to maintain continuity, such arrangements have time limits. Researchers report needing to plan staff reductions when facing funding gaps, and some have had to discontinue time-sensitive experiments. Trump administration officials maintain that these changes reflect responsible stewardship and commitment to rigorous science.
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