During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, senators questioned Griffin Rodgers, MD, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), about recent NIH funding cuts.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who co-chairs the Senate Diabetes Caucus, expressed concerns that the Trump administration had terminated or frozen NIDDK grants and that the institute could be merged with others amid restructuring efforts.
She asked Rodgers to address the importance of continuing to fund diabetes research, “including ongoing trials and prevention initiatives, and why that should be prioritized and protected from reductions.”
“We’re really on the cusp of some major breakthroughs,” Rodgers responded, “especially related to cellular therapies and finding a biological cure.” The hearing was focused on type 1 diabetes.
He also pointed to the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study: “I’m happy to report that the very last patient turns 15 this year, and so we’re already on the cusp of understanding what some of these triggers are, and that’s the kind of work that we have to roll up our sleeves and really continue, because that’s where the cures will manifest themselves.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked Rodgers how many NIDDK employees had left due to being fired, placed on administrative leave, or accepting a buyout since the beginning of the year.
Rodgers said that some of the workforce reductions were “intended to centralize some of NIH’s administrative function,” but declined to provide a specific number because of ongoing retirements. He added that, “we’re doing the best with the numbers that we have to try to make sure we’re as efficient as possible, getting funding out to our investigators, and making sure that the success that we’ve made so far [doesn’t] take a back step.”
Durbin also asked how many NIDDK grants had been terminated this year, but Rodgers again declined to provide specifics because some grants are involved in appeals. Durbin ended his questioning on cuts affecting NIDDK calling Rodgers “a friend and an ally.”
Durbin then stated to the audience, “I want to make it clear, there have been dramatic cuts made in grants, some related to type 1 diabetes.”
“If we’re going to stop this, we’ve got to stand together, both political parties, and say, that’s the end of it,” he added. “Research is part of making America great.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) expressed concern over how the NIH could fund grants in the future, pointing to a proposal that would give more grant recipients their money up front, which she said would dramatically reduce the number of grants NIH is able to fund.
“How will diabetes research be affected if NIDDK awards 40% fewer grants this year than last year,” Baldwin asked Rodgers, “and what will that mean for patients with type 1 diabetes who are anxiously waiting for a cure?”
“We are doing our best to spend all of the money that Congress has provided to us, and I would note that the budget for the Special Diabetes Program is extended in the president’s budget,” Rodgers said. (NIDDK’s discretionary appropriation for FY 2024 was $2.311 billion, which is separate from a Special Type 1 Diabetes appropriation of $160 million that NIDDK oversees on behalf of HHS.)
Rodgers added that, of course, “more funds allow for us to do more, which is why the Special Diabetes Program has been so effective.” He stressed that NIDDK is committed to using what it has in the “most efficient way as possible moving forward.”
