Maine
Maine joins 21 states suing Trump over medical research funding cuts
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey is joining 21 other states seeking a federal court order to stop the Trump administration from cutting medical research funding to institutions such as Jackson Laboratory and the University of Maine.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also criticized the new limit on research funding, saying it could disrupt life-saving biomedical research, including ongoing work taking place in laboratories in Maine.
On Friday, the National Institutes for Health announced that it would limit the amount of grant funding that can be used by medical and public health institutes to cover indirect costs associated with their research, including utility costs, equipment, staff and other infrastructure.
Indirect costs have traditionally been negotiated by the researchers and the federal government. The NIH said on social media that average percentage for overhead was about 28%.
The NIH said Friday that no more than 15% of any research grant could be spent on the indirect costs. Recipients spending more than 15% would see their funding reduced.
The NIH said the new cap would save $4 billion a year.
“Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from administrative bloat means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less,” White House spokesman Kush Desai wrote in an email to the Washington Post.
The order took effect Monday, leaving little time for affected institutions to respond.
Frey said in a written statement that he was joining 21 other attorneys general in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against the administration, NIH, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “to block this unlawful attempt to cut NIH funding.”
“The NIH funds critical public health research throughout the country and right here in Maine,” Frey said. “While the drastic slashing of this funding is being branded an ‘overhead’ savings, it in fact threatens to cripple vital research into areas that touch the lives of many Mainers, including cancer treatment, infectious diseases, neuromuscular disorders, aging, and addiction. The loss of NIH funds will also impact Maine-based organizations that employ Mainers and attract new talent to our state.”
The lawsuit argues that the NIH directive capping indirect costs violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which Frey said prohibits the NIH from requiring “categorical and indiscriminate changes to indirect cost reimbursements.”
Other states joining the lawsuit are: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
Collins also spoke out Monday against the cap, saying the “poorly conceived” directive could hurt local researchers at institutions like Jackson Lab, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, University of Maine, University of New England and MDI Biological Laboratory. Those groups warned about a stoppage of research and job losses, she said.
“There is no investment that pays greater dividends to American families than our investment in biomedical research,” Collins said in a written statement. “In Maine, scientists are conducting much-needed research on Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, and on how to improve efficiency in drug discovery, helping to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and conducting many other life-enhancing or life-saving research.”
Collins noted that lawmakers have already passed a law prohibiting the NIH modifying rules regarding indirect costs.
Collins said she spoke Monday morning with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has been nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She said Kennedy, who could face a Senate confirmation vote this week, to her he plans to take a second look at “these arbitrary cuts … as soon as he’s confirmed.”
The lawsuit is the latest to be filed by Maine and other states asking the courts to push back on the Trump administration’s flurry of executive orders orders the last three weeks, which have sought to end birthright citizenship, unilaterally freeze federal grants and loans, and shut down entire agencies.
It also comes as billionaire businessman Elon Musk and his team, known as the Department of Government Efficiency, are moving aggressively to cut federal spending and reshape the federal workforce.
Such actions have led to widespread confusion and fear, as constituents have flooded phone lines here and elsewhere, raising concerns among Maine’s delegation about the amount of power Trump has ceded to Musk, who was not vetted through any confirmation process.
Trump’s moves, especially his administration’s effort to unilaterally cut programs and funding authorized by Congress, have raised concerns about a constitutional crisis that could upend the country’s basic foundation of have three separate and co-equal branches of government, placing more power with the presidency.
Last week, Congress confirmed Russell Vought as the White House budget chief, who believes a 1974 law enacted by Congress requiring the president to spend congressionally approved fund is unconstitutional.
Collins, who travelled with other Republican senators to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to meet with Trump, voted in support of Vought, even though she said she disagrees with his views on withholding congressional approved funding, known as impoundment.
So far, the courts have stopped several of the Trump administration’s moves from moving forward, at least temporarily.
Maine has now joined a total of four lawsuits against the Trump administration. In addition to the research funding conflict, Frey has challenged efforts to end birthright citizenship and gender-affirming care and challenged Musk’s access to sensitive personal information.