The ISSCR joined with more than 500 health and research coalitions and organizations to express concern regarding the Administration’s draft (now proposed) Fiscal Year 2026 budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that proposes a nearly 40% cut to the National Institutes of Health.

In a letter sent to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies, signatories stressed that the proposed FY 2026 budget would cut about one-third of the agency’s discretionary spending and effectively devastate the nation’s research, scientific, and public health infrastructure. Characterized as dangerous and devastating, the budget proposal would put the nation’s health and security at risk.

The ISSCR joined with Research!America, hundreds of biomedical research organizations, and thousands of private citizens from the U.S. scientific community to urge House and Senate appropriators to avoid a full-year continuing resolution for Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations and instead provide a robust funding increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The letter also calls for the preservation of existing protections against cuts to reimbursement for NIH grantee Facilities and Administrative costs. These drastic cuts will slow scientific progress and weaken the U.S. research ecosystem.