
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s plan to dramatically hike defense spending would mean cuts for almost every other department — including the National Institutes of Health, an agency that many Republicans would rather invest more money into.
Congressman Tom Cole, a Republican who chairs a key appropriations committee that has overseen recent boosts to NIH’s funding, sounds worried. Trump is expected to propose increasing defense spending more than $50 billion in the next fiscal year and making offsetting cuts to other parts of the federal budget.