The Biden regime is planning to “Trump-proof” the National Institutes of Health (NIH) against reform if Donald Trump returns to the White House, with an official tasked with identifying “political meddling” designated and a so-called scientific integrity council in the works.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who went on to become Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, was one of the NIH’s top directors, leading its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). His role in influencing policy and ongoing legacy is currently under renewed scrutiny. Congressional investigators say health officials may have circumvented Freedom of Information laws and covered up inconvenient truths during his tenure.
Presented as a plan to stop partisan politics from influencing science, Biden’s scheme intends to make a deep state institution that disburses over $40 billion annually immune from democratic oversight. Trump has argued unelected bureaucrats with the power to set policy should be easier to remove if they are out of step with the administration of the day, and that the White House should be able to prevent officials from pursuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and other ideological policies.
“The NIH is an entrenched political organization. They are a very powerful institution in Washington. The directors there often go directly to Congress to get their funding,” commented Joel Zinberg, who advised on health policy as a member of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers.
“NIH is ripe for drastic reform,” concurred Roger Severino, a Department of Health and Human Services official during Trump’s first term.
BUILDING A WALL.
However, Lyric Jorgenson, the NIH’s so-called scientific integrity official, insists that “Interfering and manipulating science to advance a partisan agenda is inappropriate and is what we’re working to wall against.”
She claims this “wall” against reforms led by elected representatives is necessary to “generate rigorous, trusted evidence to inform public health.”
Many conservatives believe NIH officials such as Fauci have been “manipulating science to hit a partisan agenda” with insufficient accountability for years. The retired NIAID director’s claims health officials did not fund gain-of-function research have been contradicted by colleagues, and there is mounting evidence he sought to squash proof the Wuhan virus resulted from a Chinese lab leak, undermining then-President Trump.
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