A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to slash funding for National Institutes of Health research programs at universities and medical systems that threatened a key source of funding and jobs in Georgia for critical research on health discoveries such as cancer and basic science.
Well over $100 million in Georgia research funds would have immediately been cut, leaving the state’s overall NIH program of $700 million worth of research in question or dramatically restructured.
The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit filed by 22 mostly Democratic-led states challenged Trump’s plan to cut perhaps $4 billion in costs at the federal program, the nation’s bedrock financier of scientific research.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and other state Republican leaders did not join the litigation, which the White House has framed as an effort to limit bloated “indirect” overhead spending on lab space, equipment and certain personnel expenses.
“Nobody denies that Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s research is critically important,” said Carr spokeswoman Kara Murray. “By cutting indirect costs, there will be even more funds available for legitimate medical research.”
The threatened cuts sparked chaos at research institutions across the state and nation, and led to impassioned calls from scientific leaders urging Trump’s administration to rethink the cost-cutting measures.
Business boosters promoted a study that showed the funding that research institutions and businesses across Georgia receives equals more than $2 billion annually in economic impact and is responsible for nearly 12,000 jobs in the state.
Caylee Noggle, chief of the Georgia Hospital Association, said the proposed cuts come as Georgia was in the midst of growing, not shrinking, programs for high-level medical education. Lawmakers are pouring state dollars into a new medical school at the University of Georgia and a new dental school at Georgia Southern University.
“Any potential funding cut only takes us further backwards and will ultimately slow down or hinder access to groundbreaking and life-saving treatments for Georgians,” she said, adding that her industry broadly supports Trump’s mission to make government more efficient.
“We need to be careful and look at the significance of the cuts we’re making.”
NIH funding primarily supports university laboratories, where scientists and doctors who secure grants may exclusively work in labs or work directly with hospitals and clinics on groundbreaking trials.
At Emory University, NIH funding in the last fiscal year totaled $488 million. The university told employees it expected funding to decrease $140 million annually if the cuts went through. Companies and private foundations also fund scientific research, but experts say NIH funding is the bedrock of U.S. dominance in scientific research.
Emory called the overhead spending “essential to our research enterprise,” emphasizing that without laboratory infrastructure scientists couldn’t achieve medical breakthroughs. Such “indirect” spending can include laboratory space, research security, handling of bio waste, information technology, equipment and some personnel.
Other large-scale recipients in Georgia include the University of Georgia at $76 million, Augusta University at $73 million and Georgia Tech at $46 million.
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley’s initial ruling only covered the 22 mostly Democratic-led states that brought the challenge. The judge later expanded the pause on the NIH cost-cutting effort nationwide “until further order” issued by the court. The judge set a Feb. 21 hearing on the challenges.
Two other swing states that Trump captured in November — Michigan and North Carolina — did join the lawsuit. But both states have Democratic attorneys general, easing their political decisions.
A group of universities filed a separate lawsuit on Monday that also sought emergency help from the courts, warning the cutbacks could deal irreparable damage to lifesaving research and threaten the lives of patients.
Carr had few qualms about challenging President Joe Biden’s administration, even when it posed some political risk. Just days before Trump took office, he challenged Biden’s order banning offshore oil drilling — an unpopular issue to many on the coast.
Democrats excoriated the attorney general for sitting out the legal challenge to the cuts.
State Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat and potential candidate for governor, told “Politically Georgia” the proposed cutbacks could threaten the next phase of medical advances that helped the U.S. navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What’s crazy to me is that the attorney general has sued the Biden administration for a lot less. They were lawsuits that were purely political in nature and had very little economic impact on Georgia,” he said.
“And what we’re talking about right now with the NIH has direct impacts not only on our universities but on our people.”
And Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens called the cutbacks a significant danger — not only to research but also to an engine of the region’s economy.
“It’s a threat,” he said. “It’s a threat to our livelihoods and our future.”
Business editor J. Scott Trubey and staff writer Adam Beam contributed to this report.
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