Senator McCormick Calls for NIH Reform and Investment | Senate Floor

Remarks as prepared for delivery: “Mr. President, “Two years ago, Baby KJ was born with a rare, often fatal genetic disorder. Today he is walking and talking. “How? Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, funded by the National Institutes of Health, saved his life with the world’s first personalized gene-editing therapy. “Today, CHOP seeks the next miracle cure at its new Morgan Center for Research and Innovation, which I visited last week. “These breakthroughs are possible because NIH funds foundational science that saves lives and lowers the cost of disease. “Federal research and private enterprise made American medicine the envy of the world, and AI is accelerating discovery like never before. “Yet at the most exciting moment in medical history, I fear we will surrender our lead to China through underinvestment and mismanagement. “This summer, the White House rightly called for a new Golden Age of American Science. Reaching that critical goal takes more federal R&D investment and long overdue reform. “We as conservatives should recognize that basic research, like national security, is a public good that private capital rarely funds. Government fills the gap, funding the long-term, high-risk work. “Mr. President, I know those of us who believe deeply in fiscal discipline may hear a call for more federal R&D spending and ask why, especially at a time of enormous deficits and debt. “That is the right question. “The federal government should NOT spend more simply for the sake of spending more. “But funding basic research saves lives, lowers the cost of disease, creates new industries, and strengthens American competitiveness. “If we do this right, the investment will more than pay for itself. “And nowhere is that case clearer than in medical science. “The federal government spends $7 trillion a year, yet less than 1 percent goes to NIH research. “And that sliver delivers outsized returns. “NIH’s Diabetes Prevention Program, for example, cut type 2 diabetes risk by 58 percent. “NIH-supported eye-disease research halved legal blindness from wet macular degeneration, saving roughly $28.5 billion. “And CAR-T cell therapy, pioneered at Penn with NIH support, reengineers patients’ T cells to attack cancer, producing decade-long remissions and replacing years of costly treatments. “The list goes on. “Nationally, every NIH dollar also generates $2.50 in economic activity. In Pennsylvania, NIH research sustains over 21,000 jobs and generates more than $5 billion annually. “Earlier this year, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and I saw how researchers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are using artificial intelligence to detect cancer earlier, speed drug discovery, and make surgery more precise. “Yet America’s global leadership is slipping. “China is closing the gap. They have increased R&D spending from 36 percent of the U.S. in 2008 to parity in 2024. “Meanwhile, we are underinvesting in discovery. “Federal R&D fell from 1.9 percent of GDP in 1964 to 0.6 percent in 2024. And since 2003, the NIH budget has shrunk by more than 10 percent, adjusted for inflation. “We have also let politics intrude on science. The Biden NIH, for example, gave CHOP $155,000 to develop training on ‘structural racism’ and ‘intersectional microaggressions.’ “Such initiatives abused taxpayer money and undermined trust. “Finally, NIH has become opaque and bureaucratic. Nearly one in three grant dollars goes to overhead. “Taxpayers can’t easily see researchers’ financial ties to industry. “And young scientists often wait until age 42 to receive major funding from NIH. “Mr. President, each of these failures has a fix. “First, rather than cut NIH by 40 percent, as OMB proposed last year, we should double its $48 billion budget within five years. “I understand these are big numbers. But if these dollars yield discoveries that trim our $5.3 trillion health bill by just 1 percent, they will more than pay for themselves and demonstrate that the AI revolution truly helps everyone. “Second, prioritize merit-based science. “The administration rightly reassessed grants lacking merit, and it canceled nearly 1,400 midstream, many over diversity, equity and inclusion language. “While some of these grants deserved to be canceled, some were legitimate research with buzz words inserted to get approval from the Biden Administration. “On half those grants alone, taxpayers had already paid nearly $1.3 billion for work that will never be finished. “Rather than waste that investment, we should let researchers revise their applications for legitimate research and keep working. “That is why, last week, I led five Senate Republican colleagues in urging the Administration to do exactly that. “Third, demand accountability. “We must replace NIH’s costly overhead with one that rewards efficiency, makes institutions compete for infrastructure dollars, and gives smaller research centers a fair shot. “I will soon introduce the Sunshine for Researchers Act to require federally funded researchers to disclose industry ties. “And my bipartisan NIH Mentorship Modernization Act, introduced with Senator Chris Coons, would help retain young scientists. “Mr. President, at this crucial moment, incrementalism is our greatest enemy. America was built by pilgrims and pioneers who dared to push beyond the known. We must summon that spirit again by investing boldly, prioritizing science, and reforming relentlessly. “If we dare, KJ’s story can be the beginning of a new golden age of American science that burns bright for decades to come. “I yield the floor.”