Harris County has joined a nationwide authorized effort in search of to dam funding cuts to the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) made by the administration of President Donald Trump.
The county is a part of a coalition of metropolis and county governments difficult the choice to chop NIH funding for medical researchers. Harris County Legal professional Christian Menefee contends the cuts threaten “life-saving analysis” in addition to work carried out on the Texas Medical Middle, which incorporates the College of Houston, Rice College and the Texas Coronary heart Institute as accomplice establishments.
“The Texas Medical Middle pumps billions of {dollars} into our economic system,” Menefee stated. “President Trump’s cuts put that cash in danger together with hundreds of jobs and demanding analysis, and what I believe we’re seeing right here is intentional. President Trump is attempting to intestine medical analysis.”
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The coalition contains 45 native governments from throughout america. Harris County signed on to an amicus transient filed this week in a federal court docket in Massachusetts, arguing NIH’s funding cuts are unjustified and would devastate analysis establishments.
Menefee stated cuts can be a catastrophe for the Texas Medical Middle — one of many main analysis facilities on the planet the place greater than 120,000 individuals are employed — and to the world of medical analysis throughout the nation.
“These establishments are utilizing this grant cash to seek out cures to medical points, to most cancers, to seek out medical options,” Menefee stated. “No person cares if the one that finds them are a Republican or Democrat, proper? We’re anxious about sufferers getting life-saving therapy.”
Menefee stated the Texas Medical Middle generates $24 billion in annual financial exercise for the Houston area.
