House Republicans on Thursday refused to lay blame at the National Football League for reportedly trying to influence funding for brain research.
Leaders in the House Energy and Commerce Committee called for a federal watchdog to examine the National Institutes of Health’s role in a controversy surrounding grants for brain research.
A letter released Thursday by Republicans to a federal watchdog comes after reports from ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” in December that said the NFL attempted to influence which groups got grants to study the effects of repeated trauma to the head. The NFL has been criticized for ignoring the risks associated with head trauma and concussions in football.
In May, Democrats on the committee issued a report that concluded the NFL had attempted to influence NIH decision-making but NIH had “maintained the integrity of the science and grant review process.”
However, Republicans weren’t ready to blame the NFL.
“It is possible the NIH acted appropriately,” the letter said. “Perhaps the same can be argued for other parties involved. In the opinion of the Republican staff, the committee does not have all the facts necessary to reach those conclusions.”
However, Republican leaders said questions and concerns have been raised about the integrity of the grant process at NIH. The letter asks the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General to investigate.
For instance, if the conduct of the NFL was inappropriate, then NIH failed to identify or address the behavior but instead “encouraged ongoing discussion.”
In 2012, the NFL gave $30 million to create the Sports Health and Research Program, which addressed health concerns in all sports.
A Democratic staff report found that the NFL improperly tried to steer where grant dollars were sent.
“Outside the Lines” reported the NFL took back $16 million because it didn’t want the grant money to go to Boston University’s CTE center, which proposed doing a study tracking former NFL and college players for seven years. When the NFL made its $30 million commitment to the research in 2012, it said there was “no strings attached,” according to ESPN.
Republicans, however, focused on the role of NIH, asking the inspector general to examine how the agency evaluates conflicts of interest between grant applicants and donors. It also wants to know if NIH adhered to the terms of an agreement with the NFL regarding donor communications.
It said that evidence gathered by the committee suggests that in many cases NIH initiated exchanges with league medical advisers.
NIH engaged in a “months-long collaborative dialogue with the league, thus reinforcing the perception that there was nothing improper about these interactions,” according to the letter signed by Chairman Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan and Reps. Tim Murphy, and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, and Michael Burgess of Texas.
