Posted on 03/16/2025 5:26:50 AM PDT by cgbg
Last month, the National Institutes of Health lobbed a bombshell at universities that receive NIH grants by proposing to slash billions of dollars in overhead payments they receive to support cutting-edge research on their campuses.
But on 5 March a federal judge in Massachusetts defused the bomb before it could explode. In response to a lawsuit brought by 22 states and a coalition of research organizations, U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley issued an injunction that prevents NIH from implementing the rule change, which would lower the rate to a flat 15%—far below what NIH has previously negotiated with many universities.
(Excerpt) Read more at science.org ...
We probably need Congress to fix the awful 2018 legislation that fixed the overhead rate.
In the meantime it is critical that no new NIH grants be issued at the current overhead rate.
The freeze must continue.
These huge grants have given universities political power--and slashing them means we get to stop funding our enemies.
"Health" is just the cover story. "Overhead" may seem like a geeky accounting issue.
Don't be fooled--this is a story about power--leftists who have it--and we who want to seize it from them.
I really wish the Republicans who control both houses of Congress would just push through a ton of legislation that fixes the obvious problems. They could accomplish so much. But they don’t seem to want to.
It seems like Congress is just sitting on its hands. These EOs will just be rescinded as soon as another jackass takes control.
The overhead payments have long been a scam.
.
Congress has been very busy—collecting bribes from lobbyists—including those representing the universities.
There are huge dollars on the table.
You can be certain members of Congress are getting their fair share.
I would rate the situation difficult—but not impossible.
Once RFK Jr. gets a deep understanding of this issue—and gets the President’s ear to explain why it is so critical—then President Trump can make it a priority to drag Congress across the finish line on this issue.
No doubt that most Congress critters are compromised by “favors”,bribes,or blackmailed.
“No doubt that most Congress critters are compromised by “favors”,bribes,or blackmailed.”
Congressman Tim Burchett said that last year in an interview with some conservative journalists. He said there are only about 20 in the House that were not compromised. He said most of those “compromised” were because of some sexual indiscretion and were controlled that way. He spoke again recently about those that were compromised and said he will probably get primaried for speaking this.
Yes, the colleges “overhead rate” is used by them not to advance the reaearch for which they get the grants, but to, beyond that, help build their research institututes, and of course the colleges who get the hight percentages of the grants, and large numbers of big grants, have been able to build the largest college research structures. This is the normal corrupt structure of high rates of national government handouts for “research’.
Beginning many years (decades) ago, the idea was successfully pushed that if the national government was not massively funding research, then not enough “American” research was being done. But history knows that is a lie.
Take Thomas Edison for example. He had no federal funding, and neither did his competitor George Westinghouse. There were many examples like them in their era. Closer to our times, both Palomar Observatory and Mount Wilson Obeservatory were built by private philanthropy, not government funds. With more research, I could go on and on with AMERICAN science achievments that had nothing to do with the federal government.
That all began to change in the 1960s, under the excuse of “keeping up with the Soviets”. We already had a system that could beat the Societs and it was mostly privately funded, both academically and via corporations.
Try doing chemical or nuclear research in your garage. Let me know how that goes!
Red Nile on YouTube?
I assume you’re joking?
As pointed out Trump can play whack a mole with EOs all day long, but any permanent change has to be codified by legislation.
Most Republicans in Congress do not want to fix this. They like the status quo just fine.
They will have to be forced to do it by the White House—probably using blackmail files to obtain compliance.
Around here we love to discuss ideas and ideology—but this issue is about power—raw power.
... But history knows that is a lie. Thomas Edison... had no federal funding, and neither did his competitor George Westinghouse.
* * *
Some nice analysis there, Wuli. America's dominance in internet and advanced communications is another case where federal funding was negligible.
And no, Al Gore, YOU did NOT invent the internet!
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