The Trump administration broke the law when it terminated about 1,800 grants and interrupted funding for the National Institutes of Health, a federal watchdog said on Tuesday.
It was the fifth time that the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan legislative agency, faulted President Trump and his top aides for rearranging the budget in defiance of Congress. From February to June, investigators estimated, the N.I.H. awarded $8 billion less for research and other grants than it had a year earlier.
The findings underscored the real stakes in the growing clash between the Trump administration and Congress over the power of the purse. Since returning to office, Mr. Trump has adopted an expansive view of his authority to recalibrate the federal ledger as he sees fit, even though the Constitution gives lawmakers the power to tax and spend.
In recent weeks, Democrats and Republicans alike had expressed discomfort over the ways in which Mr. Trump’s budgetary maneuvers may have affected vital public health research into cancer and other diseases. Some in Congress have also objected to the severe budget cuts that the president has proposed for the N.I.H. and other major health and research agencies next year.
The Trump administration on Tuesday defended some of its actions, releasing a letter that described elements of the funding delay as part of the “transition” between presidents. Officials did not respond on Tuesday to more detailed questions about canceled grants. Some congressional lawmakers have also pressed the administration about more recent interruptions to N.I.H. funds.
Russell T. Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, previously acknowledged that the administration had conducted a “review” into N.I.H. spending. He also faulted the health agency for what he described as years of “waste” while claiming it had been “weaponized against the American people.”
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