The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the Trump administration’s massive proposed funding cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), advancing a measure that would increase the agency’s budget by $400 million.

The White House budget called for slashing NIH funding by $18 billion, a decrease of 40 percent. Instead, the committee advanced the bill on a 26-3 vote, delivering a bipartisan rebuke of the administration’s efforts to defund medical research.

“This committee has had multiple hearings over the last several months and heard from patients, families and researchers about the importance of NIH funding,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said. “This committee has, in a bipartisan manner, prioritized NIH and the research it supports to develop life-saving treatments and cures for devastating diseases.”

The committee rejected the administration’s plan to revamp the way the NIH pays universities, medical schools and other research centers........

© The Hill