Former Vice President Joe Biden issued a harsh rebuke against the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health during an address at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Monday, according to STAT.
During the speech, Mr. Biden said President Donald Trump's proposal to eliminate $5.8 billion in funding for the NIH in 2018 would do significant harm to biomedical research.
"This would set the NIH budget, and biomedical research, back 15 years — and that's not hyperbole," said Mr. Biden, according to STAT. "The chance of getting a grant would almost certainly reach an historic low."
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Mr. Biden added that because the NIH grants are funded for multiple years, these commitments in tandem with the proposed cuts would greatly hinder the organization's ability to fund new research.
"This is no time to undercut progress, for God's sake," said Mr. Biden, according to STAT. "It's time to double down — time to be sure we can deliver on the promise of science and technology to extend and improve lives."
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