I have grave concerns with the freezing of communications at Federal agencies. Specifically, I am calling regarding HHS and the National Institutes of Health, including the indefinite suspension of council review meetings, review section, and travel. Currently, our state of MI benefits from over $991 million in biomedical research funding from the NIH with a significant portion of that going to support jobs, innovation, and education, translating to $2.42 Billion in economic activity.
As a concerned local resident, I urge you to make sure that the money that has already been allocated for NIH extramural funding, including all training and workforce development grants remain committed. Having this funding removed would be disastrous for our local economy, important university biomedical research, and would lead to the loss of thousands of research training positions at the staff, postdoctoral, and graduate student level. NIH has always benefited from Congressional support across political ideologies, and continuing to commit to its funding and extramural projects ensures our country remains at the forefront of biomedical research efforts and innovations.