Team Trump Plans To Take Health Funding For Defense Dept

The Trump Administration plans take billions of dollars away from the National Institutes of Health and hand it to the Department of Defense.

Congress appropriated the money for lifesaving research into diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, not to backfill the military’s budget.

Pentagon sought to divert NIH funds for defense use, top House Appropriations Democrat sayshttps://t.co/PQyTi3cgxJ

— The Hill (@thehill) September 4, 2026

From The Hill:

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) in a statement Thursday said Trump administration officials only recently disclosed to Congress that the Defense Department signed an interagency agreement that could give the Pentagon access to billions of dollars meant for biomedical research.

“This secretive attempt to siphon research funds away from NIH is outrageous. The interagency agreement needs to be terminated immediately,” DeLauro said in a statement.

“Circumventing Congress to divert money intended to help Americans who are exposed to HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases—and directing those funds to the Department of Defense—is beyond the pale,” DeLauro added.

The Democrat said the agreement would pull from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), its leading institute for infectious-disease research.

DeLauro has suggested the Pentagon is attempting to make up for shortfalls caused by the war in Iran.