White House to Set Up Board to Oversee $48 B of NIH Grants

President Donald Trump has asked the Office of Management and Budget to draft an executive order that would create a new board to approve National Institutes of Health grants. The move would let White House appointees have a stronger say over the agency’s $48 billion budget. The plan is still in the drafting stage and has not been signed into policy.

The board would be made up of OMB Director Russ Vought and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. Any grant award would need unanimous agreement from these members. This structure would shift power from scientific reviewers to political officials who answer to the president.

Trump’s request came after a meeting in the Oval Office where Bhattacharya said no to cutting Harvard University’s NIH funding. The agency normally relies on peer‑review panels, advisory councils and its own staff to pick projects. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said the grants will still go out, while OMB and the White House have not commented further.

Congress previously stopped a similar OMB effort to add political review to health grants, keeping that block in place until mid‑December. The new board proposal adds another layer of scrutiny that could affect many research projects across the country.