Story perspectives

Trump slashes NIH, NASA budgets; grant tool flags keywords

4/23/2026

Summary

Story summary

NIH’s text-analysis tool flags grant proposals for words such as “racism,” “gender” and “vaccination refusal,” creating a funding bottleneck.
President Donald Trump’s budget proposals cut NIH funding by $1 billion and aim to slash NASA’s science budget by nearly 50 percent.
NIH awarded about 1,900 grants from October to March—less than half the prior-year level—while delays force labs to cut staff, postpone trials and spend up to 40 percent of time on paperwork.

History

Historical Context

In 2018, President Donald Trump proposed a $1 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which awarded about 1,900 grants, a significant drop from previous years. This funding reduction echoes past challenges, such as the 1995 government shutdown that disrupted research funding, potentially hindering public health advancements and scientific innovation due to decreased financial support for critical research initiatives.

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Story summary

NIH’s text-analysis tool flags grant proposals for words such as “racism,” “gender” and “vaccination refusal,” creating a funding bottleneck.
President Donald Trump’s budget proposals cut NIH funding by $1 billion and aim to slash NASA’s science budget by nearly 50 percent.
NIH awarded about 1,900 grants from October to March—less than half the prior-year level—while delays force labs to cut staff, postpone trials and spend up to 40 percent of time on paperwork.

1 / 2