HHS violated the law when it withheld funding for some 1,800 congressionally approved NIH grants for scientific research, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found.

Specifically, HHS violated the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 in cancelling existing NIH grants as well as suspending grant review meeting notices in the Federal Register , the report stated.

Congress appropriated amounts to the NIH, and "unless Congress has enacted a law providing otherwise, executive branch officials must take care to ensure that they prudently obligate appropriations during their period of availability," the report said.

Some $8 billion was withheld between February and June, amounting to a 62% drop in spending compared with the same period in 2024, according to the report.

The GAO does

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