Massachusetts, other states sue to block massive cuts to federal research grants - at least $1 billion worth here

Update: Judge grants temporary restraining order blocking the cuts.

Massachusetts and 21 other states  today sued the federal government over its plans to slash funding for National Institutes of Health grants, including money the government had already agreed to pay out.

This agency action will result in layoffs, suspension of clinical trials, disruption of ongoing research programs, and laboratory closures. As the Guidance acknowledges, NIH's work and the institutions that NIH supports serve to "enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability." NIH's extraordinary attempt to disrupt all existing and future grants not only poses an immediate threat to the nation's research infrastructure, but will also have a long-lasting impact on its research capabilities and its ability to provide life-saving breakthroughs in scientific research.

At issue are not funds paid directly to researchers at universities, hospitals and other non-profits facilities, but the "indirect costs" that the government has long agree to pay to help the institutions literally put a roof over researchers heads - including fund already agreed to by the government.

Or as Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and her counterparts in 21 other states put it in their suit, filed in US District Court in Boston:

Indirect costs may include expenses such as building construction and maintenance, utilities, laboratory equipment, and cleaning costs. Indirect costs may also include research administration, which includes the work of safety and regulatory committees that are mandated by the federal government for certain research programs, as well as other support staff whose services apply to multiple research projects. In addition, indirect costs may include equipment necessary to comply with specialized ventilation requirements, or research quarters and facilities suitable for optimizing biosafety and radiation safety.

Indirect costs are just as vital as direct costs because they likewise cover necessary costs for research projects. Indirect costs are an essential part of the cost of scientific progress and medical advances.

Indirect costs are vital to conducting research that advances American stature in international technological advancement, medical research, and life-saving technologies. They support the fundamental expense of simply providing a location and staff to facilitate the research that would otherwise not be funded through direct costs.

For example, a university which is funded to conduct cancer therapy research also must fund the physical maintenance of a laboratory and pay for the staff who manage the laboratory and lab equipment, such as operational staff who are not themselves researchers.

The suit charges the federal declaration is "arbitrary and capricious" because it rescinds money already approved, violates the will of Congress in determining how to spend federal research dollars and gives no rationale for reducing the maximum indirect costs per grant to 15%. Plus, the sudden change violates federal rules letting people comment on proposed changes to those rules.

In Massachusetts, the suit charges, the state's universities, hospitals and research centers would immediately lose some $1 billion in funding. The suit discusses UMass specifically, including:

For UMass Chan Medical School, NIH's reduction of the indirect cost rate will eliminate approximately $40 to $50 million dollars in funding that UMass Chan Medical School uses to support its research programs. The loss of these funds will immediately impact UMass Chan Medical School's ability to draw critical funds used to pay expenses associated with utilities and basic maintenance on the operational research facilities, debt service, payroll, and other infrastructure associated with UMass Chan Medical School's research and clinical trials.

In addition to a permanent ban on the funding cuts, the states are seeking a temporary injunction to block it while their case wends through the courts.