What’s New
A federal judge has issued a nationwide pause on the overhead-funding cap announced by the National Institutes of Health. Late Monday, Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts granted a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed earlier that day by a group of medical organizations led by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Kelley wrote in her ruling that the NIH, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the acting heads of both agencies, all of whom are named as defendants, cannot “take any steps to implement, apply, or enforce” the funding cap “in any form with respect to institutions nationwide until further order is issued by this Court.”
The Details
After the NIH announced the policy Friday, backlash was swift. Two other lawsuits challenging the cap were filed Monday, including one from the attorneys general of 22 states, who declared that the policy was “arbitrary and capricious” and “contravenes Congress’s express directives in the appropriation acts governing the NIH,” as well as regulations of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH. Kelley, an appointee of President Joe Biden, also granted a temporary restraining order in that case, though it applies only in the 22 states that joined the case.
Research administrators at several institutions had previously said on Monday that they would pause NIH grant submissions because of the policy, but backtracked on those plans Tuesday in the wake of Kelley’s nationwide ruling. Among them was the University of Iowa’s interim vice president for research, Lois Geist, who gave scholars the go-ahead to submit NIH grant proposals, noting that “this is a very fluid situation” and that administrators “are staying on top of events, consulting with peer institutions, and meeting with our congressional delegation.” (A Monday campus message from Geist had said that grant submissions and hiring of graduate research assistants would be paused “until we have more clarity.”)
David Vanness, a professor of health policy and administration at Pennsylvania State University, shared on Bluesky a Monday announcement to the university’s College of Health and Human Development that Penn State would not submit new NIH proposals or accept new awards from the agency for at least two days. But on Tuesday, a university spokesman confirmed that submissions had been resumed “in light of judicial developments.”
Both Iowa and Penn State are members of the Association of American Universities, which is a plaintiff in a third legal challenge to the funding cap, along with the American Council on Education, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and a dozen institutions. (Kelley is also the judge hearing that case, but she has not yet issued a ruling.)
The Backdrop
The first weeks of the Trump administration have been tumultuous for the academic-research community. After Trump signed executive orders taking aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion, the NIH paused grant reviews for several days. The agency last week also closed more than 20 grant programs for scholars from underrepresented backgrounds, though several early-career scholars whose diversity-focused grant applications had previously been withdrawn from consideration told The Chronicle on Monday that their work was back under review.
In addition, a federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to lift a blanket freeze on spending from federal grant programs, including those at the NIH. “The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country,” wrote Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island.
The indirect-cost cap, if carried out, would reduce federal spending by $4 billion and affect both red and blue states. While the exact financial impact on individual institutions is still uncertain, a Chronicle analysis showed that Columbia University, for example, reported $323 million in aggregate indirect-cost reimbursement during that institution’s 2023 fiscal year, which amounts to around 5 percent of Columbia’s total operating revenues that year.
What to Watch For
The cases led by the 22 states and by the AAMC are scheduled to be heard on February 21. In the meantime, Kelley ordered defendants in both cases to file a status report within 48 hours “confirming the regular disbursement and obligation of federal financial assistance funds,” and further updates on a biweekly basis.
