Appeals court sides with Illinois, 21 other states against White House on cuts in medical research funding
A panel of federal judges has affirmed a lower court’s decision in favor of Illinois and 21 other states after the group sued the federal government over cuts to medical research funding.
In February, the Trump administration handed down an order capping the federal government’s “indirect costs” of research at 15%. Hundreds of medical centers and universities have long relied on such reimbursements at rates of 60% or more for such expenses as building facilities, conducting studies and paying utilities.
The ruling keeps in place the existing payments of nearly $67 million annually for the University of Illinois system and $4.5 million for other public universities in the Southern Illinois University system from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Raoul said.
“This win protects the efforts of Illinois universities and research institutions to achieve breakthrough discoveries with lifesaving medical research,” Raoul said in a statement. “I commend the court for stopping the administration from attempting, yet again, to cut essential funding, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure the law is upheld.”
The Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
It comes on the heels of a lower court’s temporary restraining order, injunction and eventual ruling against the Trump administration before it was appealed to the higher court.
Joining in the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
It’s the latest in a series of wins for Raoul and other state attorneys general who have been suing the Trump administration over its various policies. In September, a similar group that included Raoul won a suit for the release of $2 billion in federal disaster relief funding held up by the White House over sanctuary city policies; a separate judge also released federal transportation funding after another suit.