Despite previously urging the White House to restore certain medical research grants in Maine, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has voted against their reinstatement.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) implemented a freeze on January 28, affecting $1.5 billion in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Among the frozen funds were $323,000 allocated for rural health care studies in Maine and $1.5 million designated for the Mount Desert Island Biological Lab in Bar Harbor.
“Here in Maine, we do first-class biomedical research that saves lives and produces new breakthroughs in cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s,” commented Dr. Clifford Rosen in the Portland Press Herald. “I can unequivocally state that loss of indirect revenues through these cuts will have a chilling effect on our Maine research enterprise.”
With some grants directly awarded by NIH and others appropriated by Congress, the freeze faced legal challenges, including a lawsuit joined by Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey. Consequently, federal judges mandated that hundreds of grants be reinstated. While the White House has adhered to some rulings and contested others, the status of many grants remains unclear.
On July 24, Collins, along with fellow Republicans on the Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to OMB Director Russell Vought, requesting the release of congressionally appropriated NIH grants.
Following this, an internal OMB memo indicated partial release of these appropriated funds with new usage restrictions, further complicating the situation.
Just days later, an amendment proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to the 2026 budget aimed at fully restoring the frozen grants was introduced. The amendment faced opposition from every Republican on the Appropriations Committee, including Collins.
Durbin highlighted the impact of the freeze, stating, “Nine hundred NIH awards to Northwestern have been frozen or terminated. This includes research into the world’s smallest pacemaker for newborns with a congenital heart defect. That is the number one congenital heart illness that infants face in America.”
The Government Accountability Office has since declared that the Trump administration violated the law when ordering the freeze.
Collins, representing a state Trump lost in 2024, had previously voted on February 6 to confirm Vought as OMB Director, despite his involvement in Project 2025, which advocated for NIH budget reductions.
Looking ahead, Collins is anticipated to seek a sixth Senate term and is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents.
The post Collins votes against restoring Maine’s NIH research grants appeared first on American Journal News.
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