"Sabotage": Experts, lawmakers blast RFK Jr. for destroying healthcare research
Summary
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which helps improve healthcare in the U.S., has seen major staff cuts and grant cancellations recently. Lawmakers and experts are concerned that these actions, led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during President Trump’s second term, are harming important health research.Key Facts
- AHRQ works on patient safety, healthcare quality, and new medical practices since the 1990s.
- The agency’s staff has been cut by about 75 percent during President Trump’s second term.
- Around 150 research grants worth over $250 million have been canceled abruptly.
- Despite Congress approving $345 million for AHRQ in 2026, only about $15 million has been spent on grants.
- These cuts have caused research programs in more than 30 states to stop, with layoffs and halted projects.
- Thirty Democratic senators called the grant cancellations “sabotage” and demanded the funding be restored.
- Canceled research included projects on rural healthcare, maternal emergencies, home dialysis, antibiotic use, autism care, and pain management.
- The health department under Secretary Kennedy defended the cuts, but senators asked for a response by August 25.
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