Senator Collins Questions MDI Lab President on NIH Cap on Indirect Research Costs
Q&A with Dr. Haller: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download.
Opening Statement: Click HERE to watch, HERE to download video, and HERE to download text.
Washington, D.C. – At an U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee hearing today chaired by Senator Susan Collins, she questioned Dr. Hermann Haller, President of the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDI Lab), on how the proposed National Institutes of Health (NIH) cap on indirect costs would affect the important biomedical research occurring in Maine and at institutions across the country.
During her opening statement, Senator Collins said:
America's edge in biomedical innovation is also of immense economic value to the nation, generating, for example, two and a half dollars for each dollar invested through NIH, supporting 400,000 jobs, and driving global health standards. In Maine, NIH grants and contracts support 1,468 jobs and $286 million in economic activity.
During Q&A with Dr. Haller, Senator Collins said:
Dr. Haller, we've talked a lot about the very arbitrary 15 percent cap that usually is negotiated between NIH and the grant receiving institution. But in this case, the Administration has proposed an across-the-board cap of 15 percent. Could you tell us how this proposed cap on indirect costs, also known as facilities and administrative costs, would affect MDI Biological Laboratory?
Dr. Hermann Haller:
To understand what the cap means, we have to look at the funding system. Very briefly, you know all that, that you apply for a grant, and the grants are highly competitive, and they are given on the basis of scientific excellence. But before a scientist can start doing this research and using the grant money, they have to be provided with lab space, sophisticated laboratory space, with the services and the supplies needed to be able to carry out the research...
Independent research institutions like mine, without a large endowment and without revenues from tuition, we are dependent on the present system of indirect cost reimbursement...
So, there is always room for improvement, and we are open for discussions. But the proposed 15 percent cap endangers our work and the work of all the other independent research institutions, and we will not be able to participate in what we have heard here, in life-saving research and biomedical breakthroughs.
Today’s hearing is the first of a two-part full committee hearing series titled, “Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation,” and featured researchers, stakeholder groups, and patient advocates to discuss the importance of U.S. biomedical research for the nation’s health and economy. A second hearing, which will occur on a later date, will include Administration witnesses testifying on the federal government’s role in investing in and fostering biomedical innovation.
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