ATLANTA (WSAV) — Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff (D) held a press conference to urge President Donald Trump to reverse cuts to medical research that is currently being blocked in federal court.
After the cuts were announced on Friday, many researches and politicians spoke against the decision, including Ossoff. A federal judge temporarily blocked the cuts from taking effect after nearly two dozen states sued to block the policy change on Monday.
Ossoff said that cutting medical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would greatly affect people in Georgia and across the country.
The NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world and the cut would save the federal government more than $4 billion a year, the NIH reported. This includes universities, hospitals and medical centers.
Depending on the size of the research institution and the complexity of its work, some institutions can receive 50% or more of the amount of any NIH research grant to put toward their "indirect costs," but the new order would cap that at 15%, the Associated Press reported.
Indirect costs is focused on administrative and facility costs, which includes things such as utilities like electricity, water and heating, support staff, repairs and hazardous waste disposal.
The NIH funds Alzheimer's and ovarian cancer research at Emory University, whooping cough research at the University of Georgia and lung cancer research at the Morehouse School of Medicine, Ossoff said.
"It will slow down and interrupt progress towards cures and preventions for diseases that can take children's lives, take the lives of our loved ones and devastate families in Georgia and across the country," the senator said.
The lawsuit blocking the cut said that implementing the 15% cap would stop countless life-saving health research and technology initiatives that already employ tens of thousands of researchers and other workers.
A hearing will be held on Feb. 21 to determine if the cuts are legal and can proceed.