Last week, the Boston City Council unanimously voted for resolutions denouncing cuts to two different federal organizations, the National Institute of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The resolutions come as the Trump administration implements sweeping cuts across federal agencies, some of which were announced last month, including halting all new NIH grant applications and laying off more than 2,400 VA employees—many of whom are veterans.
The financial and operational gutting of federal agencies are part of what the VA called a “government-wide Trump administration effort to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American People,” in a release last month.
Boston City Councilor and Navy veteran Ed Flynn introduced an item, which unanimously passed, to condemn the firing of over 2,400 total VA Employees that was announced between two layoffs last month.
“Vets make up about 30% of federal employees,” said Flynn. “Cuts to services and benefits for veterans will do nothing to balance the federal budget. [It is] unconscionable that the Trump administration would cut services, programs supporting veterans.”
Flynn also said he worried about how the layoffs would affect female vets, which is the fastest growing veteran population, according to the VA.
“They need gender specific support at the VA medical facilities,” he said. “We can’t water that down.”
Councilors speaking in support of Flynn included Gabriela Coletta Zapata, Tania Fernandes Anderson, and Liz Breadon.
“My district has many veterans who are strong and proud,” Coletta Zapata said at the council meeting. “What’s happening down in DC right now is deplorable and should disgust quite frankly every American regardless of political party. These job cuts put vets last.”
Zapata mentioned her concern for the second round of VA job cuts announced Feb. 24, which she said would have an effect on the VA Medical Center in Jamaica Plain.
“30% of federal employees are veterans, they work in state parks, they work in post offices, they work across the nation and they are being faced with an incredibly difficult future,” Breadon said.
After the vote, Council President Ruthzee Louijeune said that the cuts at the VA show “no one is safe from the harm of this administration, not even those who have worked to keep this country out of harm’s way.”
“This is reprehensible but there is no bottom,” she said. “ It has been made clear what they will do and they are here to represent those who are rich. May we work together to support our veterans and all communities seeing cuts to their services.”
Councilors Durkan, Breadon, and John Fitzgerald also introduced a resolution, which unanimously passed, to condemn the federal cuts to NIH funding for Boston and Massachusetts.
Council members repeatedly noted the significant relationship Boston and the Commonwealth share with NIH as a national hub for life sciences and biotech—Durkan and Breadon both said that Mass. receives more NIH funding per capita than any other state.
Councilor Fitzgerald called the “EDs and MEDs” the city’s bread and butter and that a cut in this funding is “certainly a blow.”
On Feb 21, a federal Massachusetts judge extended a temporary block of the Trump administration’s cuts in NIH funding on grants from research on Alzheimer’s, allergies, and more. The order comes after multiple lawsuits were filed by dozens of organizations pushing back against the funding cuts.
Durkan said NIH funding fuels over $2 billion in research in the 8th congressional district alone, including at institutions like Boston University, Mass General Brigham, and the Longwood Medical Area.
“As city councilor of district 8, home to some of the most prestigious hospitals and universities in the world, I’m deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding to the NIH,” said Durkan. “These cuts are not just figures on a balance sheet, they threaten Boston’s standing as a growing leader in medicine and scientific research. This endangers thousands of jobs, critical research and most importantly, lives.”
Breadon said the state was home to 5,000 NIH-funded research projects and 30,000 jobs.
“This will have an impact on Boston with regard to employment and in terms of the pipeline for research,” said Breadon. “Researchers and graduate [student] offers are being rescinded. This is an interruption of the pipeline that produces research and progress.”
“The long term cost and lives lost are not justified by any long term savings,” said Durkan. “If this stands, we see fewer medical breakthroughs, a loss of critical jobs, and a weakened ability to respond to public health crises. It’s all risk, no reward.”
Fitzgerald ended his statement in support of the resolution with optimism about a judge stopping Trump’s orders.
“For all the EDs and MEDs in the hospital, stay strong, we’ll get this back,” he said.
