Attorney General Neronha sues Trump Administration over illegal funding cuts and delays for medical and public health research

"This Administration is unlawfully obstructing life-saving medical research grants with utter disregard for the health & safety of the American people," said AG Neronha.

From a press release:

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha today joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration in the United States District Court for Massachusetts over its unlawful attempt to disrupt grant funding issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The lawsuit challenges the Administration’s unreasonable and intentional delays in reviewing NIH grant applications and termination of hundreds of already-issued grants.

“This President’s unconstitutional attacks on medical research and higher education will have very real and immediate impacts for Rhode Islanders and people across this country,” said Attorney General Neronha. “Our state is counting on this funding to support some of the most vulnerable Rhode Islanders, including those at high risk of HIV. Further, students at URI are counting on these grants to ensure they can pursue the unparalleled advanced education opportunities in our state. This Administration is unlawfully obstructing life-saving medical research grants with utter disregard for the health and safety of the American people, and we’re going to do everything we can to stop it.”

Typically, NIH grant applications must undergo two layers of review: review by a “study section” of subject-matter experts who assess the scientific merit of the proposal and review by an advisory council that considers funding availability and agency priorities. Since January, the Administration has cancelled upcoming meetings for both of these review bodies and has delayed the scheduling of future meetings. Further, NIH has indefinitely withheld issuing final decisions on applications that have already received approval from the relevant study section and advisory council. Currently, the plaintiff states are awaiting decisions on billions of dollars in requested research funding.

The complaint also alleges that NIH has recently terminated large swaths of already-issued grants for projects that are currently underway based on the projects’ perceived connection to “DEI,” “transgender issues,” “vaccine hesitancy,” or another topic disfavored by the current Administration. In boilerplate letters issued to the grants’ recipients, NIH claims that each cancelled project “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” With these shoddy explanations, the complaint alleges, the Trump Administration has clawed back millions of dollars that have already been awarded to address important public health needs.

As a result of the Administration’s delays and terminations, the states allege that their public research institutions have experienced significant harm. For example, NIH terminated two research grants at Rhode Island’s flagship university, the University of Rhode Island (URI), representing $3.7 million in lost research funding. One grant funded innovative research that was aimed at advancing the public health of those living with HIV by investigating the underlying causes of populations at high risk for HIV. Another grant funded the University of Rhode Island’s ESTEEMED Scholars Program, a program that provides students from underrepresented backgrounds with the skills and resources necessary to pursue advanced education and degree programs in bioengineering and related disciplines. Without URI ESTEEMED, several of the current trainees would have had to drop out of URI because they would lack the academic support the program provided and the stipend that allowed them to focus on their academics and research. NIH’s termination of these grants harms Rhode Island by defunding research that advances public health and educational opportunities.

The coalition argues that NIH is failing to meet its statutory obligations and violating applicable regulations by postponing meetings, delaying the review of pending applications, failing to issue final recommendations, and terminating issued grants. Further, the coalition argues that the Administration does not have the authority to unilaterally decline spending congressionally appropriated funds.

The coalition is asking the Court to compel the Administration to promptly review and issue decisions on delayed grant applications and prohibit them from terminating already-awarded grants.

On February 10, AG Neronha joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against the Administration for its attempts to unilaterally cut “indirect cost” reimbursements for NIH grants at nearly every research institution in the country. On March 5, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the Administration, preventing it from cutting the funding as the case proceeds.

Joining AG Neronha in filing today’s lawsuit, which was led by the Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, were the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Wisconsin.