'Kill the Cuts': CA colleges protest Trump's proposed NIH federal cuts to research programs

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Anti-Trump rallies continued nationwide Tuesday with students, educators, and researchers protesting cuts to federal research, health, and education programs - many of which are currently facing legal challenges.

At UC Berkeley, roughly a thousand people gathered to demonstrate against President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts, which include slashing funding for the National Institutes of Health. Protesters say the cuts could have immediate and long-term effects on critical research being conducted at universities.

The Trump administration has called these indirect costs "unnecessary," and says the cuts could save the federal government more than $4 billion each year. The threats are already having an impact on universities nationwide, with Duke University halting research projects amid the cuts.

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"We're here to fight back," one demonstrator said at the rally, which included chants and signs demanding elected officials "kill the cuts."

"These research funds go towards critical projects like working on treatments for cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's," said Tanzil Chowdhury, a graduate student researcher at UC Berkeley. "There are so many other examples - antibiotics, insulin - invented in university labs. I have colleagues who, you know, themselves are cancer survivors who are doing work on immunotherapies."

Faculty members also raised concerns about what the proposed funding reductions would mean for both education and research.

"It'll make it harder for UC to fulfill its mission of educating the public and for us to continue doing that research that California relies on," said Sunny Singhal, a staff researcher focused on climate change.

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Joanna Reed, a sociology lecturer at UC Berkeley, said the loss of funding could wipe out years of data collection and critical research work.

"It's going to mean a loss of a lot of data, in many cases, probably years of effort - not to mention the chance for patients to participate in potentially life-saving research efforts," Reed said.

In California, protestors are also opposing proposed state-level budget cuts to the University of California system, which Gov. Gavin Newsom has included in his proposed budget.

In response to mounting concerns, one Bay Area Democrat is proposing a bold alternative. Last month, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill that would create a California-based version of the NIH. The state-run agency would in-turn fund scientific research threatened by federal budget cuts.