Congressman Auchincloss Delivers Floor Speech on the NIH’s Cap on Indirect Costs
Washington, D.C. — Congressman Jake Auchincloss delivered remarks on the House Floor in opposition to the NIH’s policy on caps for indirect costs, a $2 billion tax on Massachusetts’ Eds & Meds enterprise that generates billions of dollars in economic activity and supports hundreds of thousands of well paying jobs.
Below is a portion of his remarks. You can find the full speech here.
“Here's my challenge to my Republican colleagues: go back to your districts. Talk to your universities. Talk to your hospitals. See how they're feeling about this policy.
What you are going to hear is they can't afford to take these grants.
The research, and the development, and the commercialization that you brag about when you go home; the ribbons that you cut for new companies and for new projects. They all rest upon this research infrastructure that is getting cut. Go talk to these companies. Go talk to these institutions of higher education. Go talk to these hospitals. They don't want to see this policy go into effect.
And, they want to see you vote for it and explain it back home, not hide behind the NIH. So they're losing. Who's winning? China.
There were two main themes in the recent J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. One was AI, which, by the way, requires a lot of research infrastructure.
The second was how good China has gotten at biotech in the last five years. The Chinese biotech enterprise is looking at the United States cutting our own research infrastructure at a time when they're investing tens of billions of dollars, and they cannot believe their luck.
Republicans–wake up, stand up, and support basic science.”
###