Donald Trump’s administration has proposed cutting $1.23 billion this fiscal year from research funded by the National Institutes of Health, reports Bloomberg. Most of the proposed reductions at NIH would come from research grants, with $50 million specifically taken from a program meant to support biomedical research.
PEPFAR, the worldwide initiative to help people with HIV and AIDS, particularly in Africa would be cut by almost $300 million under the plan. According to the report, the savings would be found by slowing the rate of new patients put on treatment and reducing support to “low-performing countries.” States also would face a $50 million cut that would target “less effective HIV research and prevention activities.”
Rep. Barbara Lee urged President Trump to abandon cuts to HIV/AIDS programs, warning of “unthinkable consequences.”
“The passage of PEPFAR was one of the greatest moments of bipartisan cooperation in the history of our government. Understanding the life-and-death stakes of our fight against HIV, members of both parties have put aside our ideological differences to address this global pandemic over the last thirteen years.
“President Trump’s proposed reductions to PEPFAR and other HIV/AIDS programs would be a humanitarian catastrophe. If these cuts are enacted by Congress, we will lose decades of progress in the fight against HIV. More people will become infected, fall ill, and die of this preventable disease. More children will become orphans. Formerly healthy individuals will be unable to work, undermining global anti-poverty efforts.
“The consequences of cutting nearly $350 million from global and domestic HIV/AIDS programs are unthinkable. While I am confident that my colleagues in Congress will reject this morally bankrupt proposal, I am disturbed that the President of the United States has forsaken this bipartisan cause. After years of bipartisan progress on HIV/AIDS, we cannot afford to retreat from our global leadership just so President Trump can line the pockets of defense contractors.”
In response to the news GLAAD’s Ross Murray tweeted, “These cuts continue to erase LGBTQ people by cutting vital #HIV and #AIDS research” and “Research, education, testing and treatment are how we are going to get to 0 new infections. The Trump budget will set us back.”
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday to talk about the budget proposal for his department, which NIH and and some of the PEPFAR cuts fall under.
