Universities receive funding discounts for the Ministry of Energy

A group of universities – including the University of Brown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – and education groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to stop the Ministry of Energy discounts to federal research grants.

Last week, the Ministry of Energy (DOE) announced a new policy to reduce the funding of “indirect costs” Granting research to 15 %.

However, prosecutors argue that such discounts will “destroy scientific research in American universities” and “undermine” the status of the nation as a global leader in innovation.

“The pace of scientific discoveries will be slowed in the national interest,” the lawsuit says. “Progressing a safe and effective nuclear deterrent, new energy sources, treatments for exhausted diseases and life -threatening threats will be obstructed. American competitors will celebrate, even with the suffering of science and industry in the United States.”

The lawsuit filed on Monday in the Massachusetts Court in the United States claims to change policy illegal and violate the Administrative Procedures Law. He seeks a judicial order.

Among the other prosecutors are the University of Cornell, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the Michigan State University, the University of Princeton, the University of Rochester, the American Universities Association, the American Education Council, the General Universities and Land Grants Association.

This same court has issued a permanent order earlier this year against financing research similar to the Trump administration to the National Institutes of Health.

What are the indirect costs?

The agency said in a press statement that the Ministry of Energy provides more than $ 3.5 billion annually through grant programs for more than 300 colleges and university to support research approved by the department.

Some of this goes to “direct costs”, such as specific projects, and some to “indirect costs”, which are not attributed to a specific project, such as facilities and management.

Al -Shakawi said that the indirect costs are necessary for scientific work, including specialized facilities in the nuclear classification, and computer systems to analyze large quantities of data, researchers and administrative employees.

Track the indirect cost rates of grants the regulations set by the Office of the Administration and the Executive Budget of the Executive Authority (OMB) and are negotiated by federal offices – with each recipient suitable for their circumstances and needs. The complaint argues that the policy of the maximum Energy Ministry in the Trump administration violates these regulations and that indirect cost rates should not be a “suitable” policy.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy is arguing that the new policy will generate more than $ 405 million in annual cost savings.

“The purpose of the Energy Finance Department for Colleges and Universities is to support scientific research – not to provide the bill for administrative costs and facilities promotions.”

The complaint said that the effects of politics “will be immediate and destructive.”

“Since universities cannot maintain programs funded by the Ministry of Energy at an indirect cost rate of 15 % that the Ministry of Energy will now catch, countless critical projects-often the product of years or contracts of effort-are at risk of stopping their paths. Electrical networks that keep the lights in rural societies, among many other things.

The complaint said that it would also lead to a decrease in employment and training programs, the damage of professions, and affect the next generation of scientists.

Under the discounts, the University of Brown will lose more than two million dollars annually for its planned research budget, Caltech will lose about 6 million dollars, and Cornell University will suffer from a “shortage of $ 8 million in the model fiscal year”.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has received $ 93 million from the Ministry of Energy in the fiscal year 2024 to discuss sponsored. Al -Shakawi said that the Ministry of Energy reduces indirect cost rates to 15 %, “then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology expects to lose approximately $ 15 million to $ 16 million as costs for costs that support the Ministry of Energy research during the next 12 months alone.”

The complaint claims that the discounts violate several aspects of the Administrative Procedures Law and ask the court to find the policy of the maximum rate of the rate is not valid and requires a judicial order.

“It will be a self -wound and a gift for competitors.”

NBC News has arrived at the Ministry of Energy for comment. The lawsuit also calls the Minister of Energy the Ministry of Energy Chris Wright as his defendant.

The American Education Council said in a statement that the administration will reduce “it will have an immediate and narrated impact on critical energy, physical sciences and engineering research at the country level.”

The group argued that the broken financing would weaken the economic opportunities of America, the workforce pipeline, and the prosperity of families.

“It will be, simply, a self -wound and a gift for competitors and potential opponents like China,” the group said.

“We will continue to take the necessary measures to protect the basic financing that supports Brown’s research and our country’s need for innovative solutions to critical problems,” said Christina E Pakson, President of Brown University.

The head of the Massachusetts Institute for Knnnn said

Meanwhile, Cornell officials said, “Restriction of indirect costs will arbitrarily lead to an irreplaceable damage to the Cornell Research Foundation, paralyze progress in national importance projects, and threatens to train the next generation of energy scientists.”