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News — The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) strongly opposes the indiscriminate firing of thousands of dedicated public servants across government health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

According to a , 9 out of 10 Americans—regardless of political affiliation—want the president and Congress to prioritize faster progress in medical advancements. Sweeping cuts to funding and staff at the NIH and NCI are undermining the very institutions that accelerate progress in science and medicine.

The news of mass firings came just days after the decision to cap reimbursement of facilities and administrative costs at 15 percent for research funded by the NIH. Combined, these short-sighted actions will impact millions of Americans through economic hardship and more lives lost to cancer and other preventable diseases.

Over many decades and across party lines, the federal government has played a central role in supporting cancer research. AACI represents over 100 academic cancer centers in the United States, including the 72 NCI-Designated Cancer Centers, which are part of the NCI Cancer Centers Program established over 50 years ago with the passage of the National Cancer Act. Since President Nixon and Congress passed the National Cancer Act in 1971, the federal government has partnered with the scientific community on discoveries that have resulted in cutting-edge treatments and cures for several types of cancer.

Roughly 400,000 patients receive a cancer diagnosis at an NCI-Designated Cancer Center each year and an even larger number are treated at these centers. As hubs of discovery and innovation, cancer centers have enriched the quality of patients’ lives and significantly increased the number of cancer survivors in the U.S.

Investments in the NIH and NCI make sound economic sense as well. show that every dollar of NIH research funding stimulates $2.46 in economic activity. Advances in prevention and early detection actually save money, as cancer diagnosed at later stages is 2 to 4 times more expensive to treat than the same cancer detected at an earlier stage. Further, preventive education and cancer screening tools funded by the NIH and NCI have reduced cancer mortality by over 30 percent over the past 30 years.

AACI urges the administration to consider the far-reaching economic and human costs of recent efforts to streamline government operations and to swiftly restore the NIH and NCI to full operational capacity to ensure the sustainability of our nation’s cancer research enterprise.