May 25, 2017

As Trump Seeks Major Cuts, Senator Warren Releases Report Detailing Importance of NIH Funding in Massachusetts

As Trump Seeks Major Cuts, Senator Warren Releases Report Detailing Importance of NIH Funding in Massachusetts

View the report here (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Following President Trump's budget proposal seeking massive cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today released a report on the importance of NIH funding to Massachusetts.

Home to dozens of universities, hospitals and research institutions, Massachusetts relies on NIH funding to advance lifesaving scientific discovery, to support thousands of jobs throughout the state, and to inject billions of dollars into the Commonwealth's economy. Senator Warren's report was compiled after President Trump's initial budget proposal to cut nearly 20 percent from the NIH budget, the largest cut to the institution since its founding in 1938.

"Massachusetts has a world-class scientific community that has generated enormous health and economic benefits for our state and for the entire country," said Senator Warren. "To keep making progress toward critical health care breakthroughs and to stay on the cutting-edge of research, we must protect and strengthen federal investments in the NIH. The cuts proposed by President Trump make no sense, and they must never become law."

More than two dozen universities, hospitals, labs, biomedical companies, industry organizations, and patients contributed to the report. The findings detail how access to NIH funding has supported breakthrough research in the treatments of cancer, blindness, diabetes and other diseases, improved healthcare outcomes for patients and lowered costs, increased scientific innovation, spurred the careers of young scientists, and driven private sector development. The report finds that these benefits are not confined to Massachusetts alone, but have had positive impacts stretching across the country and the world.

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