(PatriotSpotlight.org) – It was reported on May 27 that the Biden administration is putting new obstacles in the way of former President Donald Trump at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in an effort to prevent what they perceive as political interference in the event that Trump is elected president.
One calculated impediment will be establishing a scientific integrity panel to investigate allegations of political meddling in NIH operations. An official has already been appointed to this task. Lyric Jorgenson will safeguard against science being manipulated to further a political agenda.
The Biden Administration knows that if elected, Trump may trash those objectives, but they maintain that these measures would make it harder for him to do so.
For a long time, the NIH could function mostly unencumbered by politics.
The White House also ordered other health departments to beef up their scientific integrity strategies as part of his plan to make sure that research is thorough and unbiased and that neutral government employees are making the calls when it comes to research.
The NIH spends $40 billion yearly on health research. Over 83% of its budget is allocated to fund extramural research, which includes grants to various organizations and universities throughout the country.
Trump’s supporters see these actions as a shelter for progressive scientists and a shield for a biased bureaucracy that is married to its grantees, protecting them from criticism.
Roger Severino from the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and a former Trump Department of Health and Human Services official explained that the National Institutes of Health are ready for a significant overhaul. Severino said that plans to restructure government agencies and issue an executive order that would make it easier to terminate federal employees are underway.
According to Joel Zinberg, who oversaw the health policy of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, the NIH is a very politicized institution. It has considerable influence in the nation’s capital, and to get funds, the administrators there often approach Congress directly.
Although Zinberg does not anticipate the complete elimination of institutes or centers, he does worry that less scientifically focused organizations, such as the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, may face budget cuts, consolidations, or relocation under the Trump administration.
Zinberg believes that under Trump, there will be a push to decentralize the organizations.
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