White House Pulls Plans To Politicize NIH Grantmaking

 

A planned coup by the Malignant Fascist's regime of National Institutes of Health grantmaking has reportedly bitten the dust, for now:

The White House is scrapping plans for an executive order that would give the Trump administration more control over grantmaking at the National Institutes of Health, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The White House had reportedly held a meeting earlier this week discussing plans for the potential order that would’ve given the Office of Management and Budget discretion over grantmaking at the NIH, which quickly drew backlash from key Senate appropriators.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, welcomed the news in a statement Wednesday.

“It shouldn’t take public outcry to prevent President Trump and [Office of Management and Budget director] Russ Vought from laying waste to the NIH and defunding lifesaving research because they think it’s ‘woke’ or want to extort a university,” she said. “This president is on a mission to shred patients and families’ hopes for new treatments and cures.”

We pause for a queef from embattled pay-to-play Sen. Susan "Concerned" Collins:

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, had penned a letter to the White House on Tuesday warning the administration to not move forward, saying the grantmaking process should not become politicized.

That's rich.  Concluding:

The executive order idea arose after the administration in May moved to exert more control over the agency’s process for awarding research funds issuing a proposal, known as the Uniform Guidance proposed rule. It would require political appointees to review discretionary grants to make sure they aligned with presidential priorities and would expand agencies’ ability to terminate grants “for convenience,” among other changes...

We should never believe that a battle with these committed fascist goons is won, because they see everything as a long struggle to impose their unscientific, racist, misogynist worldview on American life.  Electing a Democratic House and Senate in November will deter them from trying to pass legislation to effect this politicization of NIH grants for the remainder of the MF's term in office.

Trump Begins Dismantling Government Science

 

There may be some people out there that, when they see the words "government science," they have visions of secret labs and five- headed rats.  Here's what it really is, and what the convicted felon Malignant Fascist and his anti- science Luddites are doing in just his first week in office:

The federal government’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is arguably the closest thing we have to an early warning system for disease. In addition to summaries of new research findings, it includes essential information about outbreaks so that front-line professionals and officials know what to look out for ― and, eventually, how to respond.  [snip]

The MMWR comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which publishes it every Thursday. But as of Thursday evening, this week’s MMWR still hadn’t appeared.

That is not an accident. In fact, it could be the first shot in President Donald Trump’s war on government science.

On Tuesday, just one day after Trump returned to the White House, the officials he has put in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services circulated a memo ordering staff to pause all communications until Feb. 2 unless “reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee.” [snip]

The officials also put a temporary stop to meetings and travel, including for the outside advisory groups that make recommendations for funding grants from the National Institutes of Health. Many of the scholars and scientists who serve on those panels said they heard about the stoppage just weeks or days before scheduled meetings ― or, in some cases, smack in the middle of meetings that were already taking place.  [snip]

It’s no secret that Trump’s allies and lieutenants have promised radical changes throughout HHS, with special attention to agencies like the CDC and the NIH, which they have accused of misdirecting resources, mishandling outbreaks and engaging in too much “woke” activity.

This includes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the lawyer and purveyor of vaccine misinformation whom Trump has appointed to lead HHS. He has talked about mass dismissals of career staff and shifting the focus of health agencies away from infectious disease.  [snip]

Chrystal Starbird, a biochemistry and biophysics professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, told HuffPost she learned via email yesterday that the NIH had canceled a meeting on cellular research grants. The email said the agency had no information about a makeup date, and Starbird thinks it will likely be weeks, or “more likely months,” before they can find one.

Starbird, whose investigations of cell membranes have implications for the development of cancer and Alzheimer’s therapies, worries that this sudden wave of delays could have a domino effect, setting back the entire grant process in ways that will jeopardize the future of some research projects...

We hope everyone is invested in the leech industry, because that's where this bunch of dangerous buffoons want to take us.