The Senate Committee on Appropriations voted 26-3 in support of increasing the National Institutes of Health’s budget by $400 million, a departure from the Trump administration’s proposal to reduce it by $18 billion.
In the committee’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations Bill, senators from both sides of the aisle approved a $48.7 billion NIH budget for fiscal 2026. In May, the White House proposed the agency receive $27.9 billion, about 40% less than fiscal 2025.
The NIH received $46.4 billion in program level funding in 2024 and $46.1 billion in 2025.
The Association of American Medical Colleges applauded the committee’s decision to reject the proposed budget cut.
In addition to increasing NIH’s budget, the committee rejected changes to how the agency pays medical schools, universities and other research facilities, such as academic medical centers. Senators also scrapped the Trump administration’s proposal to cap indirect research costs to 15%.
In another rebuke to the White House, the committee also rejected the Trump administration’s call for a consolidation of NIH’s 27 institutions and centers.
The House Committee on Appropriations is expected to release its version of the spending bill in early September.
