WASHINGTON STATE — Washington State’s Attorney General Nick Brown says that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has agreed to resume grant evaluations for medical and public health research.
The Trump administration paused evaluations of research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in February 2025.
The University of Washington was one of the institutions affected by the funding pause.
NIH allocates billions in medical and public health research funding for several institutions in the U.S.
Over $578 million was distributed to the university by NIH in 2024.
Brown, along with the attorneys general of 16 other states, sued the administration.
The attorneys general won their lawsuit in June of 2025 after a judge ruled that the halt to evaluations and funding was unlawful.
Brown said the new agreement would prevent the administration from using unlawful practices while reviewing applications for new grants.
“This agreement reaffirms that the federal government can’t stop legitimate research simply because it may have included words or phrases that scare the President and his political allies,” Brown said. “Thanks to our suit, funds will once again begin to flow to Washington’s centers of research.”
NIH is scheduled to appeal the decision on Jan. 6.