By: Jacob Fischler - August 5, 2025  Arkansas Advocate

President Donald Trump’s freeze on $8 billion of congressionally appropriated funding to the National Institutes of Health was illegal, the Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday.

Orders Trump signed in the early days of his return to office and related administration directives violated the Impoundment Control Act by failing to spend money that Congress, which holds the power of the purse under the Constitution, had approved, the GAO report said.

The Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN), administered by the Division of Biotechnology & Molecular Medicine (BioMMeD) at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $20.3 million renewal grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the primary federal agency for conducting and supportin