Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson secured a temporary restraining order against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to halt the removal of funds for medical and public health research at universities and research institutions nationwide.
"This attempt to slash funding for research awards that have already been granted violates the law and would cost North Carolina’s public universities hundreds of millions of dollars every year going forward," stated Attorney General Jeff Jackson. "It would permanently diminish higher education in our state and severely damage many of our state’s core industries, causing major layoffs. The court was right to stop this federal overreach, and I’ll keep fighting to protect our state’s economic future."
The NIH is a key source of federal funding for medical research in the U.S., supporting clinical trials and treatments for various diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's Disease, reproductive health issues, diabetes, and heart disease. In fiscal year 2024, organizations in North Carolina received over a billion dollars from NIH funding. On February 7th, the NIH announced an abrupt reduction in indirect cost rates to a uniform 15 percent rate. These costs are crucial as they fund labs, infrastructure, and utilities necessary for biomedical research. Such cuts threatened ongoing medical research projects by making them financially unviable.
Attorney General Jackson was supported in this legal action by Attorneys General from Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey New Mexico New York Oregon Rhode Island Vermont Washington Wisconsin.