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NIH & TRUMP ADMIN LAW-SKIRTING/BREAKING
GIFT LINK
—> Inside the Collapse at the NIH
“… The lights at the NIH are on; staff are at their desks. But since late January, the agency has issued only a fraction of its usual awards—many in haphazard spurts, as officials rushed grants through the pipeline in whatever limited windows they could manage. As of this week, some of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers are still issuing no new grants at all, one NIH official told me. Grant-management officers, who sign their name to awards, are too afraid, the official said, that violating the president’s wishes will mean losing their livelihood. (Most of the officials I spoke with requested anonymity, out of fear for their job at the agency, or—for those who have left—further professional consequences.)
NIH lawyers have told officials at the agency that to comply with court orders, they must restart grant awards and payments.
But HHS officials have handed down messages too, several current and former NIH officials told me: Hold off. Maintain the pause on grants.
And the NIH’s acting director, Matthew Memoli, who until January was a relatively low-ranking flu researcher at the agency, has instructed leadership to stick to what HHS says.
Memoli, HHS, and the NIH did not respond to requests for comment. …”
Inside the Collapse at the NIH
Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.GIFT LINK

“… The lights at the NIH are on; staff are at their desks. But since late January, the agency has issued only a fraction of its usual awards—many in haphazard spurts, as officials rushed grants through the pipeline in whatever limited windows they could manage. As of this week, some of the agency’s 27 institutes and centers are still issuing no new grants at all, one NIH official told me. Grant-management officers, who sign their name to awards, are too afraid, the official said, that violating the president’s wishes will mean losing their livelihood. (Most of the officials I spoke with requested anonymity, out of fear for their job at the agency, or—for those who have left—further professional consequences.)
NIH lawyers have told officials at the agency that to comply with court orders, they must restart grant awards and payments.
But HHS officials have handed down messages too, several current and former NIH officials told me: Hold off. Maintain the pause on grants.
And the NIH’s acting director, Matthew Memoli, who until January was a relatively low-ranking flu researcher at the agency, has instructed leadership to stick to what HHS says.
Memoli, HHS, and the NIH did not respond to requests for comment. …”