House and Senate Republicans have floated separate plans to reorganize the National Institutes of Health, but the efforts are unlikely to go anywhere this Congress, say multiple Capitol Hill staffers and other stakeholders.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIH enjoyed bipartisan support from Congress, with year-over-year funding increases and praise for the agency whenever its officials appeared before Congress.
But the pandemic put a harsh spotlight on the agency, and in the last couple years, congressional Republicans have held hearings investigating the agency’s use of gain-of-function research and allegations of sexual harassment among research grantees. Both the House and Senate have proposed major changes to how the agency conducts its day-to-day research.
