Gabrielle Lord

Last Thursday, New Haven joined 44 other cities and local officials in filing a legal brief against recent federal cuts to research funding.

The cities filed an amicus brief in support of lawsuits filed by 22 states and associations of medical schools, hospitals and universities against recent cuts to federal research funding. On Feb. 7, the National Institutes of Health announced that scientific and medical institutions would be losing significant amounts of federal research funding. 

Like many of the other cities included in the brief, New Haven is home to universities and hospitals that employ thousands of researchers whose work and jobs depend on federal dollars. The brief explained how these cuts would negatively affect cities across the country.

“New Haven is one the nation’s leading hubs for medical and scientific research. From bioscience to life science to quantum, these industries represent thousands of local jobs and millions of dollars to our local economy,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in a press release. “But, more importantly, this funding is supporting cutting-edge, lifesaving work that is identifying new medical treatments, curing chronic diseases, and advancing scientific discoveries that improve the everyday lives and wellbeing of our residents.”

The NIH’s Feb. 7 decision caps reimbursements for indirect costs, such as lab maintenance, equipment and administrative support, at 15 percent, a significant reduction from Yale’s previous reimbursement rate of 69.7 percent. This decision “would have severe and long-term impacts on our jurisdictions,” the amicus brief reads.

In many of the cities that joined the amicus brief, the research institutions most likely to be harmed are “at the center of bigger biotech and science-based economic hubs,” meaning that the loss of funds could cause cities’ economic systems “to degrade.” 

Yale submitted “a declaration of support” for the brief explaining that research at Yale and other Connecticut institutions benefits patients in New Haven and across the state and generates jobs benefiting the local and state economy.

The brief argues that the NIH’s decision to cut funding is “arbitrary and capricious,” explaining that the NIH failed to consider the “substantial reliance interests” of universities, hospitals and other recipients of indirect cost funding. 

The NIH’s cuts to reimbursement rates were temporarily blocked nationwide by a federal court after 22 states filed a lawsuit against the policy change. 

The mayors’ Thursday brief advocated that the temporary restraining order against the Trump administration “be extended in duration and given nationwide effect.” On Friday, Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts extended the order until she decides on a more permanent ruling.

“We join with cities across the country — in red states, purple states and blue states — to stop this illegal action that will cause layoffs, lab closures and undermine scientific progress in American cities,” said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu — whose jurisdiction spearheaded the brief.

The amicus brief was led by the City of Boston, Massachusetts; the City of Cleveland, Ohio; the Mayor of Gainesville, Florida; the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah.