Earlier this month, the Trump administration set off a frenzy in the US scientific community when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that indirect cost reimbursement for federally funded research would be capped at 15%, a drastic cut from a usual range of 50 to 70%. In the American system, a federal research grant comes with one component that pays the direct costs of research-covering salaries of the researchers and supplies and equipment they use-and a so-called indirect component that represents the government's contribution to facilities and administration-the overhead necessary to do the work. The indirect contribution does not cover everything needed to support the research
the remainder is provided by the university. This agreement between higher education and the government has been a hallmark of the funding system for 70 years. The scientific community must unite in speaking out against this betrayal of a partnership that has enabled American innovation and progress.