Krishnamoorthi Warns Trump's Devastating Research Cuts Threaten America's Scientific Leadership
WASHINGTON — Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) warned today that the Trump Administration's proposed cuts to American scientific research are undermining U.S. competitiveness with China, threatening America's scientific leadership, and driving away top scientific talent during a House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party hearing on research security.
Questioning senior career officials from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Department of Energy (DOE), Krishnamoorthi highlighted the Administration's proposed FY2026 budget cuts to each agency, including nearly a 60 percent reduction for NSF, a 40 percent reduction for NIH, and significant cuts to the Department of Energy's Office of Science, including Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Each official confirmed the proposed funding levels reflected in their agencies' own budget documents. Krishnamoorthi contrasted those reductions with OECD data showing China has surpassed the United States in research and development spending.
The Congressman said:
“Research security is obviously a national priority, but unfortunately, research is insecure not just because of external threats, but because of internal ones due to unprecedented cuts, posing, I think, an existential threat to our research. While President Trump wants to cut funding, China is investing. This spring, OECD showed that China has topped the U.S. in R&D spending. We're killing the very research that we're attempting to protect. And that's wrong.”
Krishnamoorthi then highlighted what he described as the real-world consequences of the Administration's cuts, citing canceled vaccine research, rising measles cases, the spread of New World screwworm, and Ebola before warning that the reductions were endangering Americans' health.
Finally, Krishnamoorthi highlighted the experience of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Ardem Patapoutian, whose NIH grant was frozen before China offered to relocate his laboratory with guaranteed long-term funding. Citing a Nature poll showing that 75 percent of U.S. scientists are considering leaving the country, Krishnamoorthi warned that America's research enterprise is being weakened from within while China actively recruits top scientific talent.
The Congressman concluded:
"Trump's cuts are driving away talent. Trump's cuts are making us less healthy. Trump's cuts are leaving us with nothing left to steal. Research needs to be secure. But if there's no research left to steal, what's the point?"