ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Over the weekend, the Trump administration made moves to cap what the National Institutes of Health pays universities and research organizations to cover their administrative costs.

Since then, a judge has blocked it. But what does this mean for researchers?

“It’s not the sexy stuff in research, but it’s incredibly important,” said James Holloway, University of New Mexico provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. 

Custodial fees, accounting staff, electricity bills. These are not top of mind when you think about medical research. Holloway says these indirect costs are crucial.

Last Friday, the National Institutes for Health announced research organizations like UNM would have to cut their indirect budgets to 15%. Right now, UNM’s budget of these costs is 52%.  

“We do a little over $100 million of research each year with the NIH, and the impact of that would actually be about a loss of about $20 million in funding to the University of New Mexico,” said Holloway. 

Holloway’s weekend was spent trying to figure out how this cut impacts UNM. The university and UNM hospital’s research under the NIH deals with every human health aspect, from psychology to cancer trials. 

“So there are patients in the hospital who are receiving new life-saving care, who are in fact, part of those trials and who are being supported through this NIH research. So losing that would have a direct impact potentially on some of those patients,” Holloway said. 

Before UNM could figure out who’s affected, a federal judge temporarily blocked the proposed budget slash after 22 attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. 

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is one of them. In a statement, he said in part, “the Trump administration’s attempt to undermine this funding threatens the very foundation of public health progress.” 

Holloway says no research is stopping as they navigate this latest order. 

“I think it’s important for us to respond in a calm way. We’re not trying to create churn or excitement here,” said Holloway. 

Holloway says it’s too early to speculate what clinical trials or research could be impacted. If the budget cut goes through, it wouldn’t be millions of dollars lost overnight, it would be on a rolling basis.