BREAKING: NIH admits funding freeze is illegal, will resume issuing grants

An internal memo issued February 12 was obtained by Popular Information.

A sign of the National Institute of Health stands near an entrance to its campus on February 10, 2025, in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

On Monday afternoon, Popular Information broke the news that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had frozen virtually all grant funding in violation of two federal court orders. The grants were frozen pending a review for compliance with President Trump's executive orders, including those targeting spending related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Our story was based on information from an NIH official who spoke on the condition of anonymity and internal NIH correspondence confirming the freeze.

David Super, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and an expert on administrative law, told Popular Information that the Trump administration was "in contempt of court" and the continued funding freeze at NIH was "completely unlawful."

On Wednesday morning, NIH leadership distributed a memo, obtained by Popular Information, acknowledging that its funding freeze was illegal and directing staff to resume issuing grants.

The memo was written by Michael Lauer, the NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, and Michelle Bulls, the NIH Chief Grants Officer. It states that the NIH will "effectuate the administration's goals over time," but such considerations cannot factor "into funding decisions at this time." The memo acknowledges that NIH programs "fall under recently issued Temporary Restraining Orders" by federal courts.

The new policy to comply with the temporary restraining orders (TROs) was issued today, February 12. The first TRO, however, was issued on January 31. The NIH memo reveals that the agency has been in violation of these orders for almost two weeks. During that time, the memo confirms that staff was not permitted to issue new or continuing grants.

Now, staff is finally authorized to issue new and continuing grants under existing "funding policies." The grants will be issued "with “the previously approved negotiated indirect cost rates” and not the 15% indirect cost cap the Trump administration was seeking to impose. The cap on indirect costs would be a severe blow the biomedical research in the United States.

This means critical funding for research on everything from cancer treatments to heart disease prevention to stroke interventions will resume.