A Senate committee has rejected President Donald Trump’s efforts to gouge funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), instead passing draft legislation that would increase funding for the nation’s medical research agency by $400 million for the next fiscal year.
The bill, approved by the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations in a 26-3 vote (PDF) at the end of last week, also aims to keep CDC funding fairly intact after Trump announced plans to halve the center’s budget.
The House Committee on Appropriations is slated to review and revise its own version (PDF) of the funding bill in September before sending it forward for a full House vote.
If finalized, the measure would provide $197 billion in overall funding under the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, with $48.7 billion of that money going to the NIH for biomedical research. The move signals the lawmakers' desire to maintain NIH’s status as the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research.
The act would also keep NIH’s 27 institutes and centers intact, in opposition to Trump’s consolidation plans.
Some of the highlights for NIH-specific funding include $3.9 billion for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia research; $2.3 billion for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; a $19 million increase from 2025’s fiscal year for rare disease research; and a $30 million increase for the Office of Research on Women’s Health.
The committee has also proposed allocating $7.4 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), including $28 million for the Childhood Cancer STAR Act, which is designed to accelerate childhood cancer research and disease surveillance.
The committee proposal is a stark contrast to Trump’s budget, which didn’t include the NCI at all.
The Senate committee also proposed $3.6 billion for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. The bill further includes $1 billion for HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), $825 million for the bioterrorist countermeasures initiative Project BioShield and $79 million for the National Disaster Medical System.
“This bill prioritizes funding to help make Americans healthier and supports lifesaving biomedical research, including through targeted funding for Alzheimer's, cancer, Lyme disease, Parkinson’s, ALS, diabetes and rare disease research,” committee chair Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., said in a July 31 release.
The draft legislation also puts money down to fight opioid dependence, particularly in rural areas, including $1.6 billion for state opioid response grants.
Plus, the committee laid out plans for more than $5.5 billion in mental health resources, including $534.6 million for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) suicide prevention lifeline.