Health Groups Call NIH Cuts Devastating

Health groups say President Donald Trump’s proposal slashing funds for the National Institutes of Health would be devastating for patients with all kinds of diseases – and for jobs.

Trump has called for a cut of $5.8 billion from the agency that is the nation’s engine of biomedical research. It amounts to 18 percent of NIH’s budget and would trickle down to universities and other research institutions that use most of the money.

The cuts come despite Trump recently telling Congress about the need to find “cures to the illnesses that have always plagued us.”

Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association says the budget could mean “the next cure for some cancer is sitting there waiting to be discovered, and it won’t get to the table.”