Jay Bhattacharya

And actually, I'm actually quite delighted that Congress voted through the House, just voted through a bill to fund the NIH at higher levels than it did last year.

But again, higher levels than the White House proposed.

Yeah.

Higher levels than last year.

So you are delighted.

I'm delighted that I have the opportunity to spend the money to fulfill the task that the president gave me, which is a task that I fundamentally believe in.

Take that research dollars, put them to research that improves the health and longevity of the American people.

Remove politics out of it.

No more DEI.

Refocus on establishing the rigor and reproducibility of the scientific ideas.

Establish the NIH as the place where you're looking at frontier ideas.

I mean, it's hard to— But money helps.

Yeah, I think it's very, very productive.

I mean, I think economic estimates, somewhere between every dollar invested by the government produces $2 to $5 of economic growth.

I don't think that's enough though.

I think it actually has to improve health, right?

So in a sense, like the last 15 years of investments, because life expectancy hasn't improved, has not been as productive as it might otherwise be.

I mean, I think that there's a legitimate need to address the budget problems that the United States has.

Because I share, as a PhD in economics, I share the sense that if we do not address this budget problem,

sort of structural budget deficit that the federal government has, it's an existential crisis for the United States, right?