So, “this idea that we’re gonna spend the money, but we’re only gonna spend the money after we have study sections, and – oops – we can’t have study sections because we’re not allowing notices of study sections to be filed in the Federal Register” unambiguously ignores that language, Bagenstos added.
The NIH has stopped submitting study sections – meetings in which scientists peer review NIH grant funding proposals – to the Federal Register after the Trump administration paused health agency communications.
Judge John McConnnell “initially issued a temporary restraining order saying stop the funding pause,” Bagenstos said, “and then after receiving evidence that the Trump administration was trying to evade that order, he issued a further, broader order, saying that, first of all the, the Trump administration must immediately end any federal funding pause.
The Trump administration has blocked a crucial step in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) process for funding medical research, likely in violation of a federal judge’s temporary restraining order on federal funding freezes.
None of the scientists the Guardian spoke to received an explanation as to why study sections were not cancelled until the last minute, even though they were required to appear on the Federal Register 15 days in advance but never did.
