White House budget chief says he's 'having fun' as crucial cancer research axed
President Donald Trump's chief at the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, confessed that he's enjoying making drastic cuts as his office slashes funding for things like medical research into cures for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.
The Christian Science Monitor reported on Vought's statements at their "Monitor Breakfast" on Thursday, in which he said his team was "very excited" about their "win" over the 2026 budget.
The new package before the House and Senate this week makes drastic cuts to public television, which includes free educational programming for children, among other things.
However, as the Huffington Post's Jen Bendery pointed out, Vought went so far as to say he was "having fun" as his team began planning massive cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
"He cited the National Institutes of Health, which is currently the premier biomedical research institution in the world, as one agency that 'needs fundamental reform,'" she noted. "The agency has already lost at least 1,200 employees and faces a proposed 40% cut to its budget under the Trump administration."
When Vought was asked what he meant by "having fun," he answered, "What's not fun?"
The highest spending as of 2024 went to neurosciences, genetics, prevention, brain disorders, biotechnology and cancer research, an NIH report said.
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