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Sen. Acosta warns NIH cap could threaten research funding, cites personal medical benefit
Summary
Senator Acosta used his floor remarks supporting a congenital heart defect awareness resolution to warn that a proposed 15% cap on NIH indirect costs could jeopardize research at thousands of institutions and urged Rhode Island's federal delegation to intervene; he cited his own surgery as evidence of research outcomes.
During floor remarks supporting a resolution establishing Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week, Senator Acosta said last-week federal action on indirect-cost limits at the National Institutes of Health could harm research capacity and patient outcomes. "Last week, the National Institutes of Health tried to implement a 15% cap on indirect costs related to medical research," Acosta said, adding that the change could affect "over 2,600 hospitals, medical schools, universities, and other research institutions" conducting studies.
Acosta framed the funding warning in personal terms: "My heart surgery would have had to be a very invasive open heart surgery had it not been for the medical breakthrough that made it so that I could get a relatively simple AFib ablation with just a minor cut over my heart." He urged colleagues to "reach out to our federal delegation to make sure that we protect those various research institutions, some of which are based in our state."
The remarks were offered as part of ceremonial floor business; the Senate moved and passed the awareness-week resolution. The transcript contains no response from other members or a recorded committee action related to Acosta's concerns about NIH policy. The claim that NIH sought a 15% cap on indirect costs is attributed to Acosta's floor statement and should be verified against NIH and federal delegation records before being reported as a policy decision.
Next steps for the policy issue raised would be outreach to the state's federal delegation or formal committee inquiries; none were recorded in the day's Senate proceedings.
