Terri Sewell Warns Of The 'Devastating Impact' GOP's Proposed NIH Budget Cuts Will Have On Research

Forbes Breaking News

In a video posted on social media Thursday, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) spoke about proposed NIH budget cuts.

Transcript

00:00Hi, it's Congresswoman Terri Sewell and I'm standing here in front of the

00:04University of Alabama Birmingham to bring a spotlight to the amazing

00:09research that's being done right here in the state of Alabama. For decades UAB

00:15has been a leading research institution receiving millions of dollars from the

00:22National Institute of Health for its amazing programming and its amazing

00:27research. This work is something that is a source of great pride not just to the

00:34University of Alabama Birmingham but to our state and to this nation. Sadly just

00:40like so many of these services that our communities rely on this research funding

00:45is being threatened by President Trump and his co-president Elon Musk along with

00:51thousands of jobs and the livelihoods that it supports. In February at the

00:57direction of President Trump NIH announced sweeping cuts to overhead costs

01:03for the research institutions like UAB. That money helps cover the cost of

01:09equipment facilities and other infrastructure that is essential to

01:14conducting the life-saving research that's done right here. Unfortunately

01:19these cuts are only the tip of the iceberg. Just a few days ago a leaked version of

01:25the near-finished 2026 Republican budget showed that the Trump administration wants

01:30to have major cuts to NIH. We're looking at nearly half of the budget of NIH being cut

01:38and reducing that agency from 27 institutes to us and centers to just eight. Let's be

01:45clear if this budget is passed it will have a desert a devastating impact on the

01:51biomedical research that's done right here at UAB. It will not only cut that

01:59research but thousands of jobs will be lost as well. So today I stand on the

02:05campus of UAB which is one of the crown jewels of Alabama and Alabama 7th

02:11Congressional District. UAB is among the largest employer in the state of

02:15Alabama and it's a leading research institution hospital and college and was

02:21one percent the top one percent of all NIH funded institutions last year receiving

02:27four hundred and seven million dollars in funding in just that year. Every day the

02:33phenomenal medical experts here at UAB are hard at work researching the causes and

02:40potential cures for conditions like strokes, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other

02:46diseases and disorders that devastate families throughout this nation. Sadly

02:52President Trump's cuts will cost UAB approximately seventy million dollars a

02:58year. Behind all of those dollars are jobs, livelihoods and potential medical

03:04breakthroughs that could save lives. And if the proposed 2026 Republican

03:11budget were to pass it would not only slow life-saving research to a crawl but it

03:16could eliminate so many of those studies that are ongoing right now. This

03:21morning I received a briefing from UAB regarding the state of the research

03:26capabilities and the anticipated impact of cuts to research from NIH. I heard

03:33directly from researchers who would see their studies harmed or even halted. That

03:39is why I am standing here and standing up for UAB. We need to fight back against

03:45these draconian cuts to research. We know behind every research dollar there are

03:51lives and livelihoods and I will continue to stand up for the people that I

03:56represent and that includes the amazing research that's being done right here at UAB.

04:02Our job as elected officials is to provide resources and better

04:08opportunities to the people that we represent, not the opposite. To be clear I

04:13welcome the opportunity to work with my Republican colleagues and this

04:16administration where and when we can. But if they want to cut life-saving

04:22research in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy and well-connected I will

04:28fight back. I will stand up for UAB and the medical research that they're doing

04:34right here in the state of Alabama. It's about lives and livelihoods. It's about

04:39jobs. It's about life-saving technologies and we simply can't sit back while this

04:44administration continues to make cuts to these life-saving research

04:50institutions like UAB. Thank you for the opportunity to represent you every day and

04:55I look forward to you amplifying your voice and letting it be known that the

05:00research is doing that's being done right here in UAB is invaluable to

05:05life-saving breakthrough technologies for the future. We will not stand back and

05:11watch this happen without a fight. Thanks.

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