The White House March 18 released more details of its FY 2020 budget proposal. The Major Savings and Reforms document calls for, as in previous years, reducing the salary cap on NIH grants from $189,600 (executive level II) to $154,300 (executive level V). In the accompanying congressional justification document, NIH proposes capping the percentage of an investigator’s salary that can be paid with NIH grant funds at 90%. The president’s FY 2020 request also notes that, “For the past two years, NIH has been prohibited by law from reducing grantee administrative costs” and proposes eliminating the prohibition.
