A new Senate Republican report claims the federal government spent millions on unnecessary transgender animal tests, experiments on beagles in China, and aborted fetal tissue research over the past year.
Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., detailed these issues in his ninth annual “Federal Fumbles” report. He also proposed steps to prevent similar waste in the future. Lankford said the Republican-led Congress saved billions and improved efficiency after President Trump’s second term began, but much work remains.
“Too often, the federal government is gridlocked, unresponsive, and inefficient,” Lankford wrote. “We must continue cutting through red tape to make the government work better for taxpayers.”
The report flagged several National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant programs from the Biden administration as wasteful. One program spent roughly $240 million on transgender animal experiments using mice, rats, and monkeys. The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) eventually ended the program. Lankford said the studies subjected animals to hormone treatments and surgeries to model transgender adults and children.
The report also cited NIH grants totaling $53 million in 2024 that funded research using human fetal tissue from elective abortions. Seventeen of these grants remained active last year. The NIH canceled them after public scrutiny by watchdog group White Coat Waste Project, and the Trump administration later ended all fetal tissue research.
Smaller amounts of money also raised concern. The report noted $124,000 sent to China for drug research involving up to 300 beagles per week. National scrutiny led NIH to stop the contract, but 18 Chinese animal research labs, including some linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, still receive NIH funding.
Lankford’s report calls for continued oversight to prevent taxpayer money from funding ethically questionable or wasteful studies.
