A congressional watchdog determined Tuesday that the Trump administration broke the law when it directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel hundreds of research grants earlier this year.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the NIH violated the Impoundment Control Act when it canceled 1,800 grants in an effort to follow a series of executive orders aimed at cutting federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, according to a report from the agency.
The 1974 law regulates how the president can cancel or delay federal funds that Congress has already appropriated.
The GAO also found the NIH violated the law when it awarded $8 billion less in grants between January and June of this year compared to the same time in 2024 to follow the Trump administration’s executive orders.
President Trump issued several executive orders shortly after taking office in January targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. One of those orders instructed federal agencies to cancel all “equity-related” grants and contracts within 60 days.
A week later, the Trump administration directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in late January to order the NIH to stop posting notices of grant review meetings in the Federal Register and to remove any documents in the process of being posted to the publication.
This move prevented the agency from reviewing and awarding grants for roughly two months, according to the GAO report.
“NIH’s actions to carry out these executive directives, coupled with publicly available data showing a decline in NIH’s obligations and expenditures, establishes that the NIH intended to withhold budget authority from obligation and expenditure without regard to the process provided by the Impoundment Control Act,” the report reads.
In the report, the GAO notes the HHS issued notices lifting the pause related to Federal Register notices and is aware of the White House directing NIH officials in July to pause “grants, research contracts, and training,” which have since been reversed. But the agency could still not confirm that more money toward grant appropriations has returned.
The GAO’s report findings are not legally binding in any way but have the power to influence Congressional opinion. A federal court ruled in June that the grant cancellations were illegal.
Some Democratic lawmakers have called for the White House to stop pausing the flow of money to NIH medical research, which could halt future medical advances.
“It is critical President Trump reverse course, stop decimating the NIH, and get every last bit of this funding out,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) said in a statement. Murray serves as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“The longer this goes on, the more clinical trials that will be cut short, labs that will shutter, and lifesaving research that will never see the light of day.”
A spokesperson for the White House and NIH could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesperson for the HHS sent its response to the GAO report to The Hill, noting that the submissions pause to the Federal Register has been lifted and peer-review scheduling has resumed.
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