Oct. 23, 2024–In its stop-gap measure passed at the last minute to prevent government shutdown and fund it for three more months, the US Congress has stealthly cut the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)–the crown jewels of Washington-funded biomedical research on Cancers, Heart Disease, Stroke, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Osteoporosis, and Aging– by at least $378 million. (See Science Mar. 21, 2024)
This is just for starters. If Donald Trump wins on November 5, and if the Republican Party wins both houses of Congress, then you can bet that the real slashing of the NIH budget will begin and this deadly bloodletting will not stop for another four years.
Just as George Bush Junior cut the NIH’s budgets during his eight years to pay for his disastrous invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, so too Joe Biden and the Democrats controlling the Senate have to accept this sneaky axing of the NIH budget to pay for the virtual blank checks given to Ukraine and Israel.
Why NIH Can Save Your Life
Why is cutting the National Institutes of Health such a matter of life and death for you and me?
The NIH is the center of U.S.-funded biomedical research. NIH-sponsored research is being conducted on cardiovascular disease and cancer, on diabetes and obesity, on arthritis and osteoporosis, on alzheimer’s and parkinson’s, hiv/aids, obesity, and, last but not least, on human biological aging.
NIH research can lead to breakthroughs which can lead to new drugs or therapies for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, alzheimers etc. major causes of death.
The Most Important US Government Institution
As far as saving our lives from the top killer-diseases is concerned, the NIH is the most important U.S. government institution, period.
Those 40 and older should be specially interested in the National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the NIH’s institutes, where biological aging research is being conducted. Such research has the potential to slow down our biological aging and extend our youthspan, healthspan and lifespan.
Why We Can’t Keep Silent Over This Cut
Humanity lost 8 priceless years because of the Bush cuts. Americans and people around the world would not be dying at the rate they are today from cancer, heart disease, stroke, and all the same major causes of death if we had not lost the momentum in biomedical research for those eight years.
We can’t allow this to happen again!
This under-the-radar cut is just the beginning. The Republicans in Congress have tested their stratagem on the US media and public, and it worked flawlessly.
This stratagem is exactly the one used by George Bush Junior when he started “freezing” the NIH budgets and seriously damaging its lifesaving research on cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, parkinson’s, etc. And most of all the NIA (National Institute on Aging) research on human biological aging.
How to Cut & Deny
In order to be able to deny in the 2024 congressional and presidential elections that they have cut the NIH budget, the Republicans, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Religious Right stalwart, can claim that they have only frozen the NIH budget. As the Science article explains, this is simply not true.
As for Joe Biden, he has a sneaky alibi. Joe can say it was the Republicans who did it! GOP Speaker of the House Mike Johnson did it. And he had no choice but to sign that stop-gap funding measure; he had to prevent the US government from shutting down.
Yes, but Joe Biden and the Democrats should have known that the Republican House Speaker would surely use the Democrats’ recklessly extravagant economic and military aid to Ukraine and Israel (which the GOP is all in for) and the increase in the federal budget deficit that they are creating as an excuse to impose “austerity” on the National Institutes of Health.
So the Biden White House (which includes his Vice President Kamala Harris) and the Democrats in both houses of Congress share at least 40% of the blame for the NIH cut. House Speaker Johnson and the Republicans share at least 60% of the blame.
All Biden and the Democrats in the Senate care about was that their new demands for yet another round of military aid to Ukraine’s Zelensky (for a war that’s clearly lost) and for Netanyahu’s regime in Israel (one of the world’s richest and best armed nation) were met in this stop-gap funding measure. Aside from the Pentagon budget of course.
So if you’re struggling with heart disease, cancer, stroke, alzheimer’s, or the endless trials and tribulations of old age, you obviously don’t even register on Washington’s radar. The fact that both parties have no qualms about cutting the NIH budget means that they have not only no respect for you, but total contempt.
From Joe Biden’s White House to the Republican Speaker’s House of Representatives, mortalist Washington is saying to you “Drop Dead!”
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