Trump Medical Research Cuts Put Top Appropriator in Tough Spot

Even for a budget hawk like Rep. Tom Cole, cutting biomedical research to the bone could be a hard pill to swallow.

“I think long term the research saves lives and saves money,” he said. “And there’s no doubt about that.”

But the House Appropriations Committee chairman is now caught between the Trump administration’s goal to slash nearly $18 billion at the National Institutes of Health—America’s premier public health research agency—and advocacy groups who warn such a move would be devastating for patients and the future of medical science.

The White House in its recent budget blueprint decried the ...