Senate Confirms Leaders for NIH and OSTP
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and OSTP Director Michael Kratsios at their confirmation hearings in early 2025.
Senate HELP Committee / Senate Commerce Committee
The Senate confirmed Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health and Michael Kratsios as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy yesterday. Kratsios received bipartisan support while Bhattacharya was confirmed by a 53-47 vote along party lines.
“The NIH needs a leader that will restore Americans’ trust in public health institutions and find unbiased solutions to Americans’ most challenging health problems,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chair of the Senate Health Committee, said in a statement following Bhattacharya’s confirmation vote. “Dr. Bhattacharya is ready to take on this responsibility and implement President Trump’s vision to Make America Healthy Again,” Cassidy added.
During his confirmation hearing, Bhattacharya said he wanted to establish a “culture of respect” for free speech and scientific dissent within the agency, expressing a desire to support research that is not necessarily aligned with prevailing scientific theories. He also said he would work to ensure NIH science is “replicable, reproducible, and generalizable” to address what he described as a “replicability crisis” in biomedical science. He largely sidestepped queries about whether he would reinstate laid-off employees at the agency or reverse course on the Trump administration’s planned cuts to indirect research costs.
Meanwhile, NIH and many of its grantees are being roiled by recent grant terminations. According to Nature, the agency issued internal guidance on Tuesday listing COVID-19, China, DEI, “transgender issues,” vaccine hesitancy, and climate change as research topics that NIH will no longer support. The guidance also says grants related to South Africa should be terminated. Trump issued an executive order to cut financial assistance to South Africa in February.
Cuts have also halted some research projects on diabetes and HIV/AIDS, despite Bhattacharya, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, and the Trump administration’s flagship health initiative emphasizing chronic disease research as a priority.
Other actions from the Trump administration have led to NIH canceling scientist training programs, imposing spending limits that make it difficult for researchers to obtain basic supplies, and laying off and then re-hiring probationary employees.
Bipartisan support for Kratsios
Kratsios’ nomination to lead OSTP passed by a far wider margin than Bhattacharya’s, with 20 Democrats and one independent joining all Republicans for a final tally of 74-25.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, expressed concern during Kratsios’ confirmation hearing that he might support proposals from the Trump administration to slash budgets at science agencies like the National Science Foundation.
However, Cantwell ultimately voted to advance Kratsios’ nomination out of committee and in favor of his nomination on Tuesday, saying she believes he is committed to working on the National Quantum Initiative and making investments from the CHIPS and Science Act and that he “understands the national security imperative related to technology investment.”
In Kratsios’ confirmation hearing, Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Kratsios has “extraordinary experience,” citing his positions during the first Trump administration as chief technology officer at OSTP and later as acting head of the Department of Defense’s R&D arm. In this administration, Kratsios will also serve as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology alongside David Sacks, Trump’s AI and cryptocurrency czar.
Cruz also highlighted Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order directing Kratsios and other members of the administration to develop a national AI action plan. OSTP recently closed its request for input on that plan.
Responses from tech organizations highlighted concerns about national security risks of AI and lagging AI adoption at federal agencies. Organizations recommended keeping the U.S. AI Safety Institute at the National Institute of Standards and Technology intact and bolstering it with statutory authorities to test models for AI security risks.
Regarding China’s rapid AI progress, respondents recommended closing supply chain loopholes for advanced chips and strengthening the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which enforces export controls. The action plan is expected in July.
