![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-02-25_19-16-17-518-e1740539869781.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n WASHINGTON D.C.\u2013\u2013<\/strong>What will the first Donald Trump administration federal budget mean for laboratory animal use?<\/p>\n A steep reduction,\u00a0 as projected by the White Coat Waste Project?<\/p>\n Much less accountability for animal use,\u00a0 as fewer experiments are done in federally funded laboratories regulated by the Animal Welfare Act,\u00a0 yet more are done in privately owned for-profit labs,\u00a0 also regulated by the Animal Welfare Act but with fewer handles for enforcement?<\/p>\n Mass neglect of animals already in laboratories,\u00a0 as result of Trump administration reduction of reimbursements to laboratories for \u201cindirect costs\u201d associated with federally funded experiments?<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Very likely all of the above,\u00a0 and more.<\/p>\n All that is really clear at present is that of the $47 billion per year National Institutes of Health budget,\u00a0 about $30 million\u2013\u2013nearly two-thirds\u2013\u2013either directly or indirectly funds animal use in biomedical research and testing.<\/p>\n The White Coat Waste Project,\u00a0 founded in 2013 by former Republican strategist Anthony Bellotti,\u00a0 thinks the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress can be persuaded to cut $20 million of the $30 million.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The U.S. House of Representatives late on February 25,\u00a0 2025 passed a federal budget framework bill along partisan lines,\u00a0 2017-2015,\u00a0 with all but one Republican in favor and all but one Democrat opposed.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The budget bill would advance the Trump legislative agenda by raising the federal debt ceiling by $4 trillion over two years, \u00a0adding almost $3 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years,\u00a0 but would at the same time require Congress to find $2 trillion in federal budget savings over those `10 years.<\/p>\n Reductions in laboratory animal use are most likely to come about through Congressionally mandated direct cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget.<\/p>\n The Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk,\u00a0 directing the Department of Governmental Efficiency,\u00a0 have already tried to limit the maximum reimbursement rate for indirect costs of research done in federally funded laboratories to 15%.<\/p>\n Courts examining the matter,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 have so far held that this can only be done through acts of Congress.\u00a0 This is possible in the budget negotiation process ahead,\u00a0 following passage of the federal budget framework,\u00a0 but has not happened yet.<\/p>\n National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Diseases director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(NIAID photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The White Coat Waste Project argues that \u201ca simple 4-point-plan for Trump 2.0\u2019s first 100 days can cut billions in wasteful government spending and save millions of animals.\u201d<\/p>\n The four-point plan \u201cproposes defunding dog and cat tests, \u00a0cutting off China\u2019s animal labs,\u201d\u00a0 reinstating an Environmental Protection Agency plan to phase out animal testing that was announced during the last days of the 2017-2021 Trump administration but abandoned during the Joe Biden administration, \u00a0\u201cand abolishing the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases,\u201d\u00a0 with an annual budget of $6.6 billion.<\/p>\n The National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases was headed from 1984 to 2022 by Ronald Reagan administration appointee Anthony Fauci,\u00a0 whom Trump vehemently blamed for the lackadaisical U.S. response to COVID-19 despite Trump\u2019s own repeated denials of serious of the pandemic until nine months after it hit the U.S.,\u00a0 killing 1.2 million Americans.<\/p>\n Beagle,\u00a0 rat,\u00a0 Anthony Fauci,\u00a0 & Justin Goodman of the White Coat Waste Project.<\/strong><\/em> In all,\u00a0 claims the White Coast Waste Project,\u00a0 \u201cAt least 26 animal laboratories in China have active approvals to receive U.S. taxpayer dollars from the National Institutes of Health, \u00a0Department of Defense, \u00a0and other government agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cRecords show,\u201d \u00a0the White Coast Waste Project says,\u00a0 \u201cthat the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense have recently extended a contract for [Chinese laboratories to do] abusive and wasteful drug tests on 300 beagles weekly until the end of May 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe records also expose another $108,000 wasted for deadly drug tests on an estimated 100,000 mice and rats.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Further,\u00a0 the White Coat Waste Project alleges, \u00a0\u201cinvestigation has uncovered that U.S. taxpayer-funded experimenters collaborated with sanctioned labs in Iran and China for cruel testing on primates procured from South Carolina\u2019s notorious Alpha Genesis breeding facility.\u00a0 In the experiments, \u00a0monkeys had holes drilled into their skulls, \u00a0electrodes implanted into their brains, and were locked in restraint chairs and forced to stare at computer screens.\u201d<\/p>\n These tests,\u00a0 the White Coat Waste Project charges, \u00a0\u201cwere funded with tax dollars via the National Institutes of Health, \u00a0National Science Foundation, and Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n The White Coat Waste Project says its \u201cpriorities are supported by key Trump allies including Roger Stone, \u00a0Donald Trump, Jr., \u00a0Eric Trump, \u00a0Lara Trump, \u00a0Marty Makary, \u00a0Jay Bhattacharya, \u00a0and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n Elon Musk.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Conspicuously absent from that list,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 is Donald Trump\u2019s top federal budget hatchet man Elon Musk.<\/p>\n Musk,\u00a0 in fact,\u00a0 has for more than a decade through his company Neuralink funded animal experiments which from available information are substantially identical to those the White Coat Waste Project decries.<\/p>\n Summarizes Wikipedia,\u00a0 \u201cNeuralink tests its devices [meant to link human brains to computers] by surgically implanting them in the brains of live monkeys, \u00a0pigs, \u00a0and other animals,\u201d\u00a0 attracting critical notice from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.<\/p>\n The Neuralink experiments on monkeys were initially done from 2017 to 2020 in partnership with the\u00a0University of California, Davis campus,\u00a0 an institution which receives federal funding.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Subsequently the research and seven monkey experimental subjects were transferred to Neuralink.<\/p>\n The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine believes from available documentation that the work done by Neuralink at U.C. Davis involved at least 23 monkeys, \u00a015 of whom either died or were euthanized as a result of the experiments,\u00a0 and alleged that U.C. Davis withheld photographic and video evidence of alleged mistreatment of the monkeys.<\/p>\n Again summarizes Wikipedia, \u00a0\u201cIn December 2022, \u00a0it was reported that Neuralink was under federal investigation,\u201d\u00a0 for alleged Animal Welfare Act violations.\u201d<\/p>\n Reuters\u00a0reporter Rachel Levy \u201ccited claims by several Neuralink employees that testing was being rushed due to Musk\u2019s demands for fast results, \u00a0which was leading to needless suffering and deaths among the animals.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cA September 2023 expos\u00e9 by\u00a0Wired<\/em>\u00a0provided additional details on the primate deaths based on public records and confidential interviews with a former Neuralink employee and a researcher at the\u00a0California National Primate Research Center.\u00a0 Those records showed complications with the installation of electrodes, \u00a0including partial\u00a0paralysis, \u00a0bloody diarrhea, \u00a0and\u00a0brain swelling.\u201d<\/p>\n Neuralink was cleared in 2023,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 of the alleged Animal Welfare Act violations.<\/p>\n The Food & Drug Administration nonetheless refused to allow Neuralink to perform human clinical trials.\u00a0 Neuralink therefore resumed testing on pigs to demonstrate the safety of the proposed procedures.<\/p>\n Phyllis Fong.\u00a0 (Wikipedia photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n After a Wired<\/em> follow-up published in October 2023,\u00a0 four members of the U.S. House of Representatives,\u00a0 all Democrats,\u00a0 in November 2023 asked the\u00a0Securities & Exchange Commission\u00a0to investigate whether Neuralink misled investors by concealing information about animal deaths.<\/p>\n The Securities & Exchange Commission investigation was assigned to U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector general Phyllis Fong,\u00a0 a 22-year USDA employee hired under President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0in December 2024 disclosed the progress of the investigation,\u00a0 including that Musk \u201chad posted on X a letter in which his lawyer informed him that the Securities and Exchange Commission had reopened a separate investigation also related to the alleged abuses.\u201d<\/p>\n The Donald Trump administration fired Fong on January 24,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 among 17 other federal departmental inspector generals.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some federally funded animal research is at least nominally done for the benefit of animals themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Livestock Behavior Research Unit, \u00a0the primary federal lab dedicated to farm animal welfare research,\u201d\u00a0 reported Grey Moran for Sentient Media on February 25,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 \u201cnow has just one scientist remaining on staff.<\/p>\n Scientists Jessica Pempek and Kaitlin Wurtz, \u00a0\u201cwho were both probationary employees,\u201d\u00a0 meaning that they had less than two years\u2019 tenure in their positions, \u00a0\u201cwere both fired on February 13, \u00a02025,:\u00a0 Moran reported,\u00a0 \u201cleaving just Heng-wei Cheng,\u201d\u00a0 close to retirement, \u00a0\u201cas the sole scientist remaining.\u201d<\/p>\nElon Musk himself funds vivisection<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNearly two-thirds of the NIH budget goes toward animal research<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat the budget bill may do for animals<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat the White Coat Waste Project thinks<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nBeagles in China<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMonkey brain experiments<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nMusk funds the same,\u00a0 similar,\u00a0 or worse<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n15 monkeys dead<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cMove fast & break things\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nKilled investigation by firing inspector general<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLivestock Behavior Research Unit<\/h2>\n