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U.S. Senators Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, and John Fetterman, D-Braddock, recently sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to share their concerns regarding the recent cancellation of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grants and the impact this will have on Pennsylvania research institutions.
On July 15, more than 150 AHRQ grantees, including researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pittsburgh, were notified that funding for ongoing, multi-year research projects would be canceled. Many of the affected projects had already undergone peer review and received federal funding in prior years.
"While we greatly appreciate the Department of Health and Human Services' commitment to ensuring federally funded research invests in scientific innovation and delivers meaningful value for taxpayers, we believe these objectives should be balanced with consideration of projects that have already undergone peer review and received federal funding," said Senators McCormick and Fetterman, according to a news release.
The senators cautioned that abruptly ending multi-year projects after substantial federal investment could waste taxpayer resources, disrupt ongoing research, eliminate jobs, and delay innovations aimed at improving patient care. They also raised concerns that uncertainty surrounding continued federal research support could make it harder for institutions to plan long-term projects and retain experienced researchers.
McCormick and Fetterman requested that HHS provide their offices with a briefing by Sept. 25, detailing:
• The criteria used to determine which AHRQ grants were canceled, and which will continue;
• How a prior federal investment, project progress, and potential disruption to researchers and personnel factor into funding decisions;
• Whether affected institutions have opportunities to seek reconsideration or otherwise mitigate the impact of terminated funding;
• Whether HHS plans to reallocate funds that otherwise would have supported the canceled grants; and
• The Department's long-term plan for AHRQ and its role in supporting safe, effective, and affordable health care research for the American people.
The letter follows previous efforts by McCormick and Fetterman to protect Pennsylvania's research enterprise, the news release said. In May, the senators urged the National Institutes of Health to move quickly to obligate congressionally appropriated 2026 grant funding, citing the importance of federal research investments to Pennsylvania jobs, scientific breakthroughs and U.S. leadership in biomedical research.