In response to congressional approval of the FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor HHS) Appropriations bill, AAI President, Ulrich H. von Andrian, MD, released the following statement:
The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) applauds Congress for approving the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor HHS) appropriations bill. Though falling short of the AAI funding recommendation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the agreement reflects a strong, bipartisan commitment to sustaining the nation’s investment in biomedical research.
AAI is grateful that the approved bill provides $47.216 billion for NIH, a $415 million increase over FY 2025 and slightly above the level previously recommended by the Senate Appropriations Committee. AAI is also thankful that the bill includes $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPAH), maintaining its FY 2025 funding level and supporting its mission to accelerate transformative health innovations.
AAI also strongly supports the inclusion of multiple provisions that protect NIH grantees and grantee institutions. The bill prohibits NIH from making any changes to already negotiated indirect cost rates, providing much-needed stability for research institutions and protecting the infrastructure essential to sustaining biomedical discovery. It also requires more Congressional oversight, including monthly briefings on NIH grant announcements, awards, and terminations. This oversight will help ensure transparency in NIH’s operations and better enable Congress to assert its power of the purse and enforce the law.
The bill also includes important guardrails that prevent NIH from increasing its use of multi-year funding (MYF) in FY 2026 as compared to 2025. However, because 2025 was a year in which NIH used MYF at a historically high level, this provision fails to alleviate the significant concern felt by researchers across all career stages, and especially by early career investigators. As a result, the U.S. stands to lose many bright young scientists, which further erodes America’s standing as the world’s leader in biomedical research. AAI continues to believe that stronger limits on MYF use are essential to safeguarding the stability and breadth of the extramural research portfolio, and we hope Congress will require NIH to describe the impacts, both positive and negative, of the expanded use of this funding mechanism in its regular reports to Congress.
As Congress completes work on FY 2026 appropriations, AAI thanks lawmakers in both chambers, and congressional appropriators in particular, for their bipartisan leadership and their sustained commitment to supporting NIH. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration in the months ahead to ensure that unresolved issues—particularly those related to MYF—are addressed in a manner that strengthens the U.S. research ecosystem and maximizes scientific progress.
