Illustration: Natalie Peeples / Axios
Senate appropriators on Thursday approved an FY26 Labor-HHS bill that included a slight bump in funding for the NIH with a strong, 26–3 bipartisan vote.
Why it matters: The vote and some lawmaker comments signaled that most of the senators aren't going along with the Trump administration's proposed 40% budget cut to the agency, instead adding $400 million to NIH accounts.
What's inside: Senate Appropriations customarily approves spending bills before releasing the full text, so final numbers weren't available at deadline.
- Full text will be posted on the committee's webpage later Thursday.
- Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Patty Murray said the bill rejected Trump's proposed cuts to efforts to fight substance use disorders, HIV and prepare for future pandemics.
- Subcommittee Chair Shelley Moore Capito said the bill had "targeted increases" for research at the NIH to specific areas including Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's, women's health and cancer.
Between the lines: OMB had abruptly paused already approved NIH grant spending Tuesday, but then quickly reinstated it.
- "As we've said, this is a programmatic review of NIH funding. The funds were released," Rachel Cauley, communications director at OMB, said in a statement Wednesday.
The temporary pause ratcheted up tensions with appropriators. Democrats questioned whether it was even worth cooperating in a bipartisan manner when the administration could resort to more rescissions packages or just opt to pause approved spending.
- Subcommittee Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin also pointed to a provision in the manager's package for Labor-HHS that would prevent OMB from "forward funding" NIH grants, which she said would result in many fewer grants being received.
- "What OMB tried to do this week … through a footnote in a budget document should be an eye-opener to all of us," Baldwin said.
