NIH Spending Imperiled by Republicans Ignoring Gingrich Pleas

When House Republicans took power in 1995 determined to cut spending in a battle that shut down the U.S. government, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich was persuaded to spare the National Institutes of Health.

Gingrich not only reconsidered his party’s proposed cuts to the NIH budget after hearing concerns from business executives and Nobel laureates, he later supported a bipartisan move to double the research center’s funding over five years.