After successfully leading an effort to unfreeze billions of dollars in education funding, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is now advocating for the disbursement of appropriated funds for the National Institutes of Health.
Capito, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, joined Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and 12 other Senate Republicans in a letter to Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The letter requests the administration implement the Fiscal Year 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law earlier this year.
“We are concerned by the slow disbursement rate of FY25 NIH funds, as it risks undermining critical research and the thousands of American jobs it supports,” the senators wrote. “Suspension of these appropriated funds — whether formally withheld or functionally delayed — could threaten Americans’ ability to access better treatments and limit our nation’s leadership in biomedical science. It also risks inadvertently severing ongoing NIH-funded research prior to actionable results.”
The letter asks for the “timely release” of all congressionally appropriated funds.
“Doing so will ensure continued momentum in curing disease, supporting American innovation and delivering results for hardworking families,” the senators wrote.
Late last week, Capito and Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., celebrated the release of more than $6 billion by the U.S. Department of Education.
“The programs are ones that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school-aged children, which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies, and programs to support adult learners working to gain employment skills, earn workforce certifications or transition into postsecondary education,” Capito said. “That’s why it’s important we continue to protect and support these programs.”
The education funds were released after Capito led a group of Republican senators in a letter to Vought.
Trump’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget includes a 93% reduction to the ARC budget, cutting funds from $200 million to $14 million.
“ARC is an invaluable resource for West Virginia that creates jobs, combats addiction, trains our workforce and improves our state’s infrastructure,” Moore said after his amendment was adopted by the full House Appropriations Committee.