WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pennsylvania Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman pressed federal health officials to explain the cancellation of more than 150 research grants after warning that the cuts could strand taxpayer investments, eliminate jobs and delay improvements in patient care.
The bipartisan request centers on multiyear grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, including awards involving researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pittsburgh.
Grant recipients were notified July 15 that funding for their ongoing projects would be discontinued, according to a letter the senators sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The affected awards had undergone peer review and received federal funding in prior years.
McCormick, a Republican, and Fetterman, a Democrat, asked HHS to brief their offices by Sept. 25 on the standards used to decide which grants were canceled and which would continue.
They also requested details on how the department accounted for previous federal spending, project progress, and potential disruption to researchers and other personnel.
“Abruptly ending these multi-year projects, after substantial federal investment, risks wasting taxpayer resources while disrupting research, eliminating jobs, and delaying innovations to improve patient care,” the senators wrote.
The letter asks whether affected institutions can seek reconsideration or otherwise reduce the effects of the terminated funding. It also seeks information about whether HHS plans to reallocate money that would have supported the grants.
McCormick and Fetterman asked the department to outline its long-term plan for AHRQ, which supports research focused on the safety, effectiveness and affordability of health care.
The senators acknowledged HHS’s effort to ensure federally funded research delivers value for taxpayers but said that goal should be weighed against the government’s existing investment in reviewed and previously funded projects.
Uncertainty over continued federal support could hinder long-term planning, make it harder to retain experienced researchers and weaken the nation’s position in scientific research, they wrote.
The appeal follows a May letter in which McCormick and Fetterman urged the National Institutes of Health to expedite the distribution of research funding appropriated by Congress for fiscal 2026. The senators tied that funding to Pennsylvania employment, biomedical research, and U.S. scientific competitiveness.
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