Press Releases

National Institutes Of Health Funding Supports 30,000 Jobs and $8 Billion In Economic Activity In New York Alone;

Funding Cuts Will Cost Jobs, Derail Critical Research, And Endanger Public Health

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Tim Kennedy visited the University at Buffalo to highlight the impact of President Trump’s recent cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding on the university and the local economy. 

The University at Buffalo receives hundreds of NIH grants to study cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infectious disease, arthritis, allergies, mental health, and much more. Slashed funding would force researchers to abandon critical work and extinguish hope for patients and families looking for cures. This funding cut could also put thousands of jobs across New York State at risk; NIH funding supports roughly 30,000 jobs in New York State alone. 

“New York is home to top notch universities that attract the world’s best scientists conducting cutting-edge research,” said Senator Gillibrand. “President Trump’s attempt to radically cut funding for the University at Buffalo and other research institutions is irresponsible and short-sighted. It will imperil research that saves lives and is guaranteed to hurt our economy and the thousands of New Yorkers employed by local research institutions. These cuts are facing strong bipartisan opposition, and I am working across the aisle with my colleagues in the New York delegation, including Congressman Kennedy, to call on the Trump administration to reverse them.”

“The administration’s arbitrary cuts to NIH funding are a matter of life and death,” said Congressman Tim Kennedy. “This funding is the difference between a grandparent keeping cancer at bay long enough to meet their grandchild or an infant benefiting from lifesaving research—these scenarios play out every day across our region and nation. The federal government should be investing in our future, not defunding cancer research and other critical health programs. These cuts need to be rescinded immediately, and we need to let scientists and doctors get back to the business of researching lifesaving technologies.”

"NIH has been an exceptional partner to the University at Buffalo and universities nationwide, enabling life changing and lifesaving discoveries in all aspects of health, wellness, and healthcare," said Venu Govindaraju, PhD, vice president for research and economic at the University at Buffalo. "The proposed changes to the NIH funding structure will make vital research difficult if not impossible to undertake and impede decades of scientific advancements."

“The Jacobs School, along with the health science community at the University at Buffalo, is dedicated to advancing scientific discovery and significantly improving health outcomes across Western New York. Through cutting-edge research funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, we aim to transform health care by developing innovative solutions, generating new knowledge, and training the next generation of health care professionals. We do research to enhance patient care and improve public health both locally and globally. However, the NIH's recent announcement of a new policy capping the indirect cost payment rate for new and existing grants at 15% — a change that could threaten billions of dollars in funding for universities and health systems — will significantly diminish these efforts that are critical to the health of our community,” said Allison Brashear, Dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

“At SUNY, we are proud of our extraordinary researchers and the life-changing, groundbreaking medical discoveries they have dedicated their careers to advancing,” said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. “From working to cure Alzheimer's disease to improving cancer outcomes, from supporting 9/11 first responders to detecting brain aneurysms, their research is essential to our national security and economic leadership.”

Last week, the Trump administration announced that it would slash billions in federal funding for research institutions nationwide by imposing a cap on “indirect costs” for research associated with NIH grants. Indirect costs are expenses that are essential for scientific research, and include the construction and maintenance of research facilities, the purchase of costly scientific tools, and support staffing for major research projects. The University at Buffalo is set to lose $47 million in funding for indirect costs, which would cripple its ability to continue to conduct much of its research. New York institutions are expected to lose $850 million in total. While a federal judge has temporarily paused these cuts from going into effect, have created chaos and confusion for the New York institutions that rely on a steady and stable flow of NIH funding. 

The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s bipartisan letter with Senator Schumer, and Representatives Kennedy, Garbarino, Lawler, Morelle, Clarke, Espaillat, Gillen, Goldman, Latimer, Mannion, Meng, Meeks, Nadler, Ocasio-Cortez, Suozzi, Tonko, Torres, Velázquez, Riley and Ryan highlighting the impact these cuts would have on New York is available here.

The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s letter with 46 Senate Democrats is available here.

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