Collins Warns Against Politicizing NIH Grant Awards
Sen. Susan Collins urged the White House to abandon an executive-order plan that would create a board with final say over NIH grantmaking, potentially giving political appointees like Russ Vought veto power and seating NIH director Jay Bhattacharya. She argued the move would politicize funding and undermine the NIH peer-review process, noting that Congress already blocked a related rule via stopgap funding. The update also covers broad Democratic opposition to the plan, while other items note ongoing debates over redirected USAID funds, GOP-Senate actions, and unrelated Capitol scheduling developments.
