Senator Murray Opening Remarks at Appropriations Hearing on Biomedical Research
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s opening remarks***
Washington, D.C. – Today—at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on biomedical research—U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, underscored in her opening remarks how important biomedical research is for patients and families across the country and how President Trump’s unprecedented attacks on our nation’s premier biomedical research enterprise threatens to unravel decades of progress.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“I let me start by congratulating you, Senator Collins, as first hearing as Chair.
“We’ve managed to do a lot of bipartisan work over the past few years, and I hope we can continue to build off of that record together.
“And I really appreciate this important hearing on biomedical research—it is an issue with long-standing bipartisan support. We’ve worked together many times over the years—along with our colleagues—to invest in advancing medical breakthroughs.
“And those investments have paid off in so many ways, not just billions in economic activity, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and a medical research enterprise that is the envy of the world. They have also paid off with genuine miracles, cures that were once impossible, treatments that were once unthinkable. These are investments that give patients hope for the future, that give them back a life derailed by a disease, that give people precious more time with loved ones.
“Which is why I am so deeply alarmed that President Trump has taken a wrecking ball to our biomedical research enterprise. He and Elon Musk have been tossing tomorrow’s groundbreaking cures into a shredder. From day one, DOGE has been cutting critical research without rhyme, reason, or any regard for who gets hurt.
“Trump has already axed 800 grants—over a billion dollars in research—for HIV prevention, breast cancer, pregnancy, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and more. They have also blocked $2 billion in grant funding from going out to universities and research institutions across our country. And they slapped a $1 limit on NIH researchers’ payment cards—meaning that our labs can’t get gloves, pipettes, and vials—these are the basics they need to keep research going.
“If Trump and Musk have their way, they aren’t just going to grind medical research to a halt, they are going to send it careening backwards. Because Trump apparently wants to slash $21 billion dollars from NIH next year. That would be a 44 percent cut—the biggest cut in NIH history. He also wants to defy a bipartisan law this Committee worked to pass, so he can massively cut funding for basic costs that keeps our labs running.
“If Trump succeeds here, a lot of world class research institutions—like the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and the University of Washington in my state—will face massive shortfalls.
“The fact that Trump and Musk are pushing such a painful policy really underscores how they don’t know—or don’t care—whether their polices actually hurt people.
“And if you needed any more evidence that there’s no real strategy here, just consider the Women’s Health Initiative, it was coordinated by the Fred Hutch Cancer Center in my home state of Washington. It has led to major advancements in our understanding of women’s health issues, especially in older women. It has paved the way for a generation of researchers focused on women’s health, that is something we never had before.
“And yet, Trump was going to axe it, presumably because he thinks it’s woke to care about women’s health. Then, hardly 24 hours later he claims to have reversed course following a loud public outcry. Yet, the Fred Hutch Cancer Center has yet to hear from NIH directly on if that funding will actually be restored.
“Trump’s three-sixty really goes to show you, these cuts and firings are not about some big strategy, just chaos and extortion.
“We have even seen Trump freeze billions of research dollars for purely political reasons, putting his own petty grievances ahead of curing cancer and saving lives. None of us should stand for that—not for a minute.
“And just as slashing NIH isn’t about a strategy for our country, it’s not about efficiency either. NIH has an incredibly high return on investment. While medical research accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget, NIH has contributed to over 99 percent of drugs approved by FDA in recent years.
“And while we’re talking about government efficiency, let’s not forget the FDA, which families trust to keep them safe. Because the NIH breakthrough won’t do much good if FDA does not have the staff and resources they need to approve new drugs. But Trump cannot gut FDA, push out four thousand workers, and expect to maintain that gold standard that keeps food and drugs safe and gives our nation a competitive edge.
“And NIH cuts are not just cutting off promising future research, but undermining studies we are right in the middle of right now. One NIH lab that analyzes blood samples for more than 200 trials, studying cancer treatments, organ transplants and more—lost half its staff during Trump and Elon’s lay-offs.
“Right now, in this country patients in clinical trials are praying for a breakthrough, they are seeing their best hope cut off by the richest people in the world.
“And worse than undermining any one study, Trump and Musk are also cutting the beating heart out of our medical research enterprise—by pushing talented researchers out the door. Trump has pushed out nearly 5,000 people at NIH and counting.
“China is already trying to seize the moment and recruit some of the brightest talent—and the same for Europe!
“Instead of supporting new talent, Trump is slashing grants for our early career scientists. I heard about this firsthand a few weeks ago, I was out in my state speaking with researchers and students at WSU in Vancouver. Bright young people, who want to do medical research here, are suddenly worried. Why start that PhD if their funding is going to get yanked away? Why study new vaccines if RFK Jr. is going to meddle in their work? Why come to the U.S. for promising research if Trump might just try to deport them for jaywalking?
“Make no mistake—the United States is the world leader in medical research. But creating that was not an accident and maintaining it is not inevitable. It is a choice we make through our investments, one that has paid off on a scale that cannot be measured.
“How do you measure the miracle of eliminating a disease? Of funding a cure? Of developing a new vaccine? How do you measure giving someone the chance to become a parent, or to see their grandkids? You can’t.
“Which leads me to the question I hope we focus on today. Why on earth would we let Trump slash that all to ribbons? Why on earth would we give up on Alzheimer’s research? Or heart disease? Or cancer?
“I will tell you, I am not giving up on patients. I am not giving up on cures. And I suspect many others here feel the same. So, I hope this discussion helps us focus on that common ground. And that working together we can push back on these devastating cuts and push forward the research that is so important to folks back home.”
###
Next Article Previous Article