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The Trump administration is considering placing the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) grant approval process under direct political control, in an effort to veto ideologically leftist initiatives.

The initiative was reportedly spearheaded by Russell Vought, who heads the Office of Management and Budget (OMB.) The proposed board to approve NIH grants would include Vought as well as NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who defended the agency’s current process.

Bhattacharya has previously defended Trump administration cuts to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-related NIH programs. While Democrats predictably attacked said cuts as an attack on racial minorities, Bhattacharya stated that the programs were politicized. According to him, “A lot of that research … I don’t see any evidence that actually improved the health of African Americans or anybody else.”

Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesman Andrew Nixon has made similar comments in the past, stating that the Trump administration’s 2025 cancellation of over $350 million in NIH grants targeted DEI and gender-ideology programs that served no useful public purpose. Among the projects affected were a university study on “structural racism,” as well as the effects of transgender hormone treatments on mice.

Accusing Republicans of waging a war on science has been a Democratic pasttime since at least George W. Bush’s presidency, even as leftist views are increasingly cited as the undisputed truth in popular culture. During the 2020 COVID shutdown, for example, we were continually lectured on the importance of isolation and 24/7 masking. This all went out the window with the advent of the Black Lives Matter protests and riots, as many of these same “experts” supported the demonstrations, using the tortured liberal logic that racism constituted an urgent metaphorical virus.

Unfortunately, one Republican senator appears to be echoing the false idea that the Trump administration’s proposal amounts to “politicizing” science. According to Senator Susan Collins (R-ME,) “Any attempt to politicize grantmaking at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), or any other agency, by another means – whether an Executive Order or guidance – is contrary to congressional intent.” She added that NIH awards already go through a “merit-based process” under the current process.

Ideally, this would be true for all NIH grant programs. The Trump administration, though, has accurately recognized from the outset that the department cannot fulfill its purpose without paring back bureaucratic leftist elements that have become entrenched over the years. Thankfully, while the administration may have some internal disagreement on how to best achieve this goal, they all agree that the NIH should not give its stamp of approval to Democratic projects masquerading as science.