NIH cuts will cause job losses and undermine innovation and American competitiveness
SAN FRANCISCO (February 21, 2025) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu joined a coalition of mayors, cities, and counties from across the United States in filing an amicus brief yesterday to stop the Trump Administration’s drastic and illegal cuts to federal research funding.
On February 7, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced an immediate reduction in funding for scientific and medical research institutions across the country. Research universities, medical schools, hospitals, and 22 state attorneys general filed three related lawsuits last week, challenging the new NIH policy.
“Research institutions around the country make life-saving medical discoveries, create jobs, and boost our local economies,” said City Attorney Chiu. “This is not a partisan issue. We all benefit from the scientific discoveries these institutions make. Cutting this funding is illegal and will move our country backward.”
Forty-four mayors, cities, and counties from across the United States joined the brief seeking a temporary restraining order against the Trump Administration. These cities are home to universities and hospitals that employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in cutting edge medical and scientific research, and the federally funded research in these communities has made the United States the global leader in scientific discovery.
Under the NIH’s new policy, which temporarily went into effect on February 10, payments for indirect costs reimbursed to research universities would be capped at 15 percent, down from 30-70 percent.
The jurisdictions’ brief makes clear that NIH funding cuts would devastate research institutions in cities across the country, cause job losses, and disrupt local economies. The cuts would also undermine critical medical and scientific research that residents are counting on, and jeopardize the country’s global leadership on scientific advancement.
San Francisco is home to University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which received $789 million in NIH funding in 2023, the most of any public institution for the seventeenth year running. These funds drive one of the most diverse portfolios of scientific research in the nation. UCSF helps drive the economy of San Francisco and the nine-county Bay Area. With more than 35,000 employees, UCSF is among the largest employers in San Francisco, and it produces an estimated $8.9 billion economic impact. Companies based on UCSF-developed technology have contributed to the growth of a premier biotechnology industry in the San Francisco Bay Area, leading cutting edge medical therapies.
On February 10, a coalition of state attorneys general and associations of medical schools, hospitals, and universities, filed three related lawsuits and secured a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump Administration from slashing the NIH reimbursement rates. That initial order will be revisited in a hearing before Judge Angel Kelley in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts today.
The amicus brief was led by the City of Boston, Massachusetts; City of Cleveland, Ohio; the Mayor of Gainesville, Florida; the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Public Rights Project served as amici counsel. The full list of mayors, cities, and counties that joined the brief include:
- City of Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
- City of Baltimore, Maryland
- City of Boston, Massachusetts
- Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Mayor, City of Burlington, Vermont
- Township of Canton, Michigan
- Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- City of Chicago, Illinois
- City of Cleveland, Ohio
- Sandra Welch, Mayor, City of Coconut Creek, Florida
- City of Columbus, Ohio
- City of Easthampton, Massachusetts
- Daniel Biss, Mayor, City of Evanston, Illinois
- City of Fairfax, Virginia
- Harvey L. Ward, Mayor, City of Gainesville, Florida
- Harris County, Texas
- Ravinder S. Bhalla, Mayor, City of Hoboken, New Jersey
- Quinton Lucas, Mayor, Kansas City, Missouri
- Indya Kincannon, Mayor, City of Knoxville, Tennessee
- City of Madison, Wisconsin
- Jeff Silvestrini, Mayor, City of Millcreek, Utah
- Anissa Welch, Mayor, City of Milton, Wisconsin
- Montgomery County, Maryland
- Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee
- City of New Haven, Connecticut
- Dontae Payne, Mayor, City of Olympia, Washington
- Adrian O. Mapp, Mayor, City of Plainfield, New Jersey
- Sue Noack, Mayor, City of Pleasant Hill, California
- City of Pittsburgh and Ed Gainey, Mayor, City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- City of Providence, Rhode Island
- John Clark, Mayor, Town of Ridgway, Colorado
- City of Rochester, New York
- City of Sacramento, California
- Erin Mendenhall, Mayor, City of Salt Lake City, Utah
- City and County of San Francisco, California
- City of Santa Monica, California
- Constantine H. Kutteh, Mayor, City of Statesville, North Carolina
- Lisa Brown, Mayor, City of Spokane, Washington
- Tishaura O. Jones, Mayor, City of St. Louis, Missouri
- City of St. Paul, Minnesota
- Dennis R. McBride, Mayor, City of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
The three cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts are Commonwealth of Massachusetts, et al. v. National Institutes of Health, et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-10338; Association of American Medical Colleges, et al. v. National Institutes of Health, et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-10340; Association of American Universities, et al. v. Department of Health & Human Services, et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-10346. A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.
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