E&C Democratic Leaders Raise Serious Concerns Over Scientific Integrity at NIH After New OMB Rule Politicizes Grantmaking

Washington, D.C. – Energy and Commerce Committee Democratic leaders wrote to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya today raising serious concerns about a new Trump Administration rule that threatens to undermine scientific integrity at the nation’s premier medical research agency.

The letter was signed by Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY). 

The OMB proposed rule gives political leadership final authority over discretionary award decisions, a change from the science-first process that has been standard at NIH for decades. This change will allow political officials to make grant funding decisions, create excessive administrative burden, and delay funding to critical research projects across the country.

“The proposed rule will inject partisanship into agency decisions at an unprecedented level, undermining your repeated promises to 'depoliticize NIH'," the Committee leaders wrote. “Allowing senior political appointees not affiliated with the granting agency to review and approve all grants prior to their awards gives members of the Trump Administration license to align NIH spending with their political preferences instead of the funding’s promise of scientific merit.”

“The damage of this obvious power grab by political leadership in the Trump Administration threatens to inflict severe harm on the nation’s biomedical research enterprise by usurping the critical role of scientific experts in the approval and funding of grants at NIH,” Pallone, DeGette, and Clarke wrote.  “We fear this rule will lead to fewer cures, fewer clinical trials, and more exposure to dangerous public health hazards.”

NIH is the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, accounting for over $47 billion in funding in fiscal year 2026. For decades, the agency has made grant funding decisions without political bias, helping to establish NIH and the United States as a global leader in scientific discovery. The longstanding process of grant approval protects taxpayers by ensuring spending is used to advance the public health interests of Americans and not treated as personal spending accounts for the interests of political leaders. 

“[T]he proposal outlined by OMB Director Russell Vought directly threatens your authority over NIH grantmaking and your ability to maintain a process that protects scientific integrity and merit-based review,” the three Committee leaders continued. “Rather than repeatedly undercutting the ability of your own agency to fulfill its mandate, we implore you to demand OMB rescind the proposed rule.” 

Read the full letter HERE.

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