President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget slashes funding for the National Institutes of Health by $18 billion to $27.5 billion as part of a sweeping overhaul to realign federal healthcare spending.
The NIH received $46.4 billion in program level funding in 2024 and just over $46 billion in 2025, according to the budget proposal.
To focus on “impactful science,” NIH is ending its “wasteful practices” of diversity, equity and inclusion and gender ideology to focus on “only impactful science,” the budget said. While the NIH will retain the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the National Institute of Aging and the National Cancer institute, it will consolidate a significant number of institutes and centers into the following:
– The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases will be consolidated into the National Institute on Body Systems.
– The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Eye Institute will consolidate into the National Institute on Neuroscience and Brain Research.
– The National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and the National Center for Advancing Translation Sciences will consolidate into the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
– The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Other Communication Disorders will consolidate into the National Institute for Child and Women’s Health, Sensory Disorders, and Communication.
– The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health will consolidate into the National Institute of Behavioral Health.
The news comes after HHS instructed the NIH to halt research grants and contracts at certain universities in late April. A Science and Community Impacts Mapping Project report also found that proposed medical research funding cuts could lead to $16 billion in economic loss and 68,000 jobs lost across the U.S.
In late March, HHS also shared plans for a “dramatic restructuring” that would lay off 10,000 full-time employees; however, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in early April that around 20% of the affected employees could have their jobs reinstated.
Here are six things to know:
1. Discretionary budget authority for HHS is proposed to drop under the fiscal 2026 budget from just over $126 billion in 2025 to $94.7 billion, a $31.3 billion cut.
2. HHS plans to merge the Health Resources and Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, and some CDC programs into the Administration for a Healthy America.
3. HHS will also consolidate 28 operating divisions to 15 and shut down five of its most expensive regional offices to “streamline operations and eliminate the bureaucracy that has worsened Americans’ health.” The consolidation in full-time employees will put HHS close to around 90% of its pre-COVID staffing and could save an estimated $3.1 billion in taxpayer money annually.
“We plan to centralize administrative functions department-wide to eliminate redundancies, which account for approximately 70% of these workforce reductions,” the proposed budget said. “We are also terminating, descoping or non-renewing over 5,000 contracts, resulting in significant savings. The fiscal year 2026 President’s budget commits to reducing duplication of programs and services, increasing accountability, and being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
4. On May 22, House Republicans passed the President Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill, which proposes large cuts to Medicaid and ACA reforms. Under the proposed 2026 budget, $6 billion would be allocated in total discretionary and reimbursable funds for the CMS Program Management, which includes $3.5 billion in discretionary budget authority and another $2.5 billion for reimbursable administration. A total of $722 million would be allocated for continued “core Medicare operations, and it also modernizes inefficient, decades-old processes,” the budget said. CHIP and Medicaid administrative operations would receive $130 million and the National Medicare Education Program would also receive $284 million in the proposed budget.
5. For public health, the budget allocates $14 billion for Administration for a Healthy America programs dedicated to addressing chronic disease, $728 million toward environmental toxin research and safe water activity funding, $240 million toward FDA “Make America Healthy Again” priorities such as ensuring food supply safety and promoting nutrition, $7.9 billion to provide more than 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives with healthcare, and reforms to modernize the Head Start program.
Mr. Kennedy’s agency would receive $500 million to tackle MAHA priority activities, with $260 million being allocated within the Administration for a Healthy America to fight chronic illness. A new prevention innovation program would receive $119 million to help improve broadband technology integration, nutrition services and physical activity venue access and reducing medication dependency.
6. The proposed budget has received backlash from healthcare organization leaders. Stephen Jameson, PhD, president of the American Association of Immunologists, said in a May 30 statement shared with Becker’s that the AAI is “deeply alarmed” by the proposed NIH funding cuts and stressed that now is not the time to cut back on biomedical research.
“Continued, bold investment in NIH is essential — not just for improving human health, but for safeguarding the future of U.S. science and the economic activity that it supports,” Dr. Jameson said. “AAI urges Congress to continue its longstanding bipartisan support for NIH and allocate no less than $51.3 billion for the NIH base budget for FY 2026.”
Becker’s has reached out to the American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals and the American Medical Association for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
