Collins said she strongly believes the proposed indirect cost cap is poorly thought out and harmful.

"And I know that it violates current law," Collins said, noting that, since 2018, Congress has included provisions in appropriations bills preventing NIH from imposing such caps.

Collins talked about medical research funding during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget for fiscal year 2026, which starts Oct. 1.

The only witness at the hearing was HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy said HHS has a plan to address Collins' concerns and that he would contact her after the hearing to talk about the plan.

What it means: Employers and benefits advisors who are hoping that government-funded medical research might find ways to improve the quality of health care and lower the cost might have to lower their expectations.

The backdrop: The Trump administration has submitted a 2026 budget request that would cut funding for one HHS research arm and infection control arm, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to $6.1 billion from $9.8 billion this year.

The budget request would also cut funding the National Institutes of Health, an HHS arm that pays for basic medical research, to $30.3 billion, from $48.3 billion this year.

Related: NIH to create primary care-based 'real world' research network

The hearings: The Senate HELP Committee held one hearing and has posted a video recording of the hearing on its website.

The House Appropriations also held an HHS 2026 budget hearing and has posted a video recording of its own proceedings on its website.

More hearing details: Collins was not the only Republican lawmaker to express concerns about the proposed cuts for 2026.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the Senate HELP chairman, said he represents Tulane University and Louisiana State University, which have been using NIH funding to tackle urgent health care issues, such as long COVID and Lyme disease.

"How will the NIH successfully do more with less?" Cassidy asked. "How will we build those new scientists to find these cures?"

Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., talked at the House hearing about the work the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, a research organization in her state, is doing on conditions such as cancer and sickle cell anemia.

"I hope you and your team will continue to work with OMRF so they can continue the positive impact in Oklahoma and across the country to make America healthy again," Bice said.

Democratic lawmakers at the hearings talked about a report posted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, showing that the Trump administration cut $2.7 billion in NIH research funding in the first three months of this year.

The Sanders report shows, for example, that NIH cut cancer research funding for the first three months of the year to less than $800 million, down from more than $1.1 billion in the first three months of 2024.

"I do not believe the American people want less cancer research," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told Kennedy.

The impact: The views of senators like Collins and Cassidy could have a bigger impact than usual right now because Republicans have just 53 seats in the Senate.

The Trump administration and Republican congressional leaders are depending on their support and support from other Senate Republicans with an independent streak, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rand Paul of Kentucky, to get a big budget and tax bill through the Senate.

That means the potential budget bill swing voters may be able to persuade colleagues to add research-funding provisions or other provisions to the budget bill to win their votes.

Republicans also have a narrow margin in the House, and that could help amplify the voices of lawmakers like Bice.