Trump reportedly to form health funding board that could veto ‘woke’ initiatives

Key Points:

• The Trump administration plans to issue an executive order creating a board to approve NIH grant funding, aiming to align biomedical research grants with the president’s political agenda.
• The proposed board, including OMB director Russell Vought and NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, would have veto power over grant awards and require unanimous decisions, breaking from NIH’s traditional merit-based evaluation process.
• The move follows accusations from senior officials that the NIH funds “woke” initiatives conflicting with Trump’s priorities, and it comes amid a class-action lawsuit alleging the administration is censoring scientific research by targeting grants based on ideological views.
• Since Trump’s second term began, billions in federal grants related to health, environment, and social issues have been cut or frozen, with research involving terms like “equity,” “racist,” “gender,” and “climate change” flagged to hinder funding.
• Critics argue the administration’s actions violate the First Amendment by using funding power to silence disfavored viewpoints within the biomedical research community.