DeGette Introduces Bill to Protect NIH From Political Interference

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01), Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, introduced the Follow the Science Act to shield the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from political interference and protect the integrity of America's biomedical research.

The legislation comes exactly one year after the start of the second Trump administration, which has undermined American science by abruptly canceling research grants, installing political loyalists in scientific positions, and injecting partisan politics into peer review processes that have driven medical breakthroughs for decades. Led by a cabal of unelected ideologues including Russ Vought, RFK Jr., Jay Bhattacharya, and Elon Musk, the second Trump administration has presided over the greatest destruction of medical research in American history. 

"Since the end of World War II, NIH has been the crown jewel of American biomedical research—discovering treatments, saving lives, and maintaining our global scientific leadership," said Congresswoman DeGette. "But this administration has shown it's willing to sacrifice science on the altar of politics. We cannot allow partisan interference to compromise the research that develops tomorrow's cancer treatments, Alzheimer's therapies, and lifesaving vaccines. The Follow the Science Act draws a bright line: science belongs to scientists, not politicians."

The Global Leader in Research Funding

Since its establishment in 1887, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s premier public funder of medical research, has been responsible for countless biomedical innovations. NIH-funded science underpins nearly every new drug approval, from cancer immunotherapies to COVID-19 vaccines to treatments for Type 1 diabetes. 

Each year, NIH awards more than 60,000 grants supporting over 300,000 researchers across 2,500 institutions in every state. The economic impact is staggering: in fiscal year 2023 alone, NIH funding supported more than 410,000 jobs—including 10,000 NIH-supported jobs in some states—and fueled nearly $93 billion in economic activity. The return on investment is clear: every dollar appropriated to NIH generates more than two dollars in economic benefit.

The Problem: Politics Displacing Science

This centuries long success has relied on insulating scientific decisions from political pressure. For many years, NIH maintained just two political appointees: the NIH Director and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director. This structure ensured presidential administrations could set broad priorities while career scientists—experts in their fields—made day-to-day funding and research decisions based on merit and evidence.

Like much else under Donald Trump, that firewall has eroded. Today, a greatly expanded number of political appointees at NIH are injecting politics into scientific processes, adding red tape, and slowing America's engine of innovation. The result: transformative research is being delayed or canceled not because of scientific merit, but because of political calculations.

Trump's War on Science

In the year since taking office, the Trump administration has:

• Terminated 1,389 awards and delayed sending funding to more than 1,000 additional projects as of April 2025. The agency awarded $1.6 billion less compared with the same period in 2024, a reduction of one-fifth.
  • By contrast, from 2015 to 2024, there have been fewer than 20 terminations a year, on average, at NIH.
• In January 2025, less than 24 hours after coming to power, the administration suspended all external communications — such as health advisories and weekly scientific reports — across all HHS agencies, including NIH. This was followed by a hiring and travel freeze.
• In March, the administration rescinded an NIH policy designed to maintain the use of science in decision making and protect scientific research from political interference.
• In July, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought directed the NIH to withhold — illegally, according to the Government Accountability Office — an estimated $15 billion in grants for outside research projects.

This political interference doesn't just waste taxpayer dollars—it undermines trust in science, drives talented researchers overseas, and delays the discoveries that save American lives.

What the Follow the Science Act Would Do?

DeGette's legislation would restore the proper balance between political leadership and scientific expertise by:

• Capping the number of NIH political appointees, ensuring presidential administrations can set direction without micromanaging scientific decisions.
• Prohibiting political appointees from participating in NIH grant review processes, leaving scientific decisions to scientists.
• Prohibiting NIH from terminating grants without documented scientific cause, preventing politically motivated cancellations.

The Benefits

Together, these reforms would:

• Improve trust in science by ensuring politics do not interfere in federally funded research.
• Protect taxpayer dollars by ensuring merit, not politics, drives funding decisions.
• Accelerate medical breakthroughs by allowing career NIH scientists to focus on science and improving Americans’ health rather than navigating political interference.

Original Cosponsors: Reps. Gabe Amo (RI-01), Andre Carson (IN-07), Troy Carter (LA-02), Kathy Castor (FL-14), Sean Casten (IL-06), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Steve Cohen (TN-09), Danny Davis (IL-07), Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), Josh Harder (CA-09), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Julie Johnson (TX-32), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Greg Landsman (OH-01), Summer Lee (PA-12), Doris Matsui (CA-07), April McClain Delaney (MD-06), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Kelly Morrison (MN-03), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Kim Schrier (WA-08), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Lori Trahan (MA-03), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12).

Organizational Endorsements: American Public Health Association, Blood Cancer United (formerly Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), 27UNIHted, Science and Freedom Alliance.