Sen. Collins slams NIH research cuts, urges funding be restored

WASHINGTON — Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, rebuked the Trump administration for cutting federal biomedical research funding, cancelling grants, and laying off federal health department employees, and said the changes must be reversed.

“Proposed funding cuts, the firing of essential federal scientists,  and policy uncertainties threaten to undermine the foundation for our nation’s global leadership,” Collins said.

Collins is one of the most powerful Republicans to speak out against Trump’s cuts. Her remarks came at the start of a committee hearing titled Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation. The hearing includes researchers from Collins’ state of Maine and from Alabama. Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt also has raised concerns about cuts to university research grants.