The Washington Post is lying to its readers.
In a Saturday article, the Post wrote: “The Trump administration is cutting billions of dollars in biomedical research funding.”
This is a misleading lie. The NIH did not announce any cuts to actual research. Will the Washington Post correct its lie?
NIH announced a new indirect costs policy that is in line with what research institutions receive from private foundations. The indirect cost rate is intended to cover overhead and the federal government has been paying an exorbitantly high rate.
NIH: “The average indirect cost rate reported by NIH has averaged between 27% and 28% over time. And many organizations are much higher—charging indirect rates of over 50% and in some cases over 60%. Most private foundations that fund research provide substantially lower indirect costs than the federal government, and universities readily accept grants from these foundations. For example, a recent study found that the most common rate of indirect rate reimbursement by foundations was 0%, meaning many foundations do not fund indirect costs whatsoever.
In addition, many of the nation’s largest funders of research—such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—have a maximum indirect rate of 15%. And in the case of the Gates Foundation, the maximum indirect costs rate is 10% for institutions of higher education.”
As the NIH wrote: “The United States should have the best medical research in the world. It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead. NIH is accordingly imposing a standard indirect cost rate on all grants of 15%”
The Washington Post’s dishonest article also claims that opposition to high indirect costs is a partisan issue.
The Post wrote, “These are the administrative requirements, facilities and other operations that many scientists say are essential but that some Republicans have claimed are superfluous.”
That is shameful and dishonest framing from the Post. Dr. Vinay Prasad, a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, praised NIH’s announcement.
Dr. Prasad wrote: “Cutting indirects might even mean more science. Less money spent on the administration is more money to give out to actual scientists.”
The Trump Administration will continue implementing policies to make America great again while the failing legacy media appears determined to continue to lie and lose the trust of the public.