Grantmaking at the National Institutes of Health appears to be issuing fewer awards as the agency navigates Washington’s debates over political control of grant funding. Grant Witness analysis cited that NIH had issued 60,924 grant awards in fiscal year 2026 as of Sept. 24—its lowest total across six fiscal years at the same point in the calendar and about 11% below the 2021–2025 average. The analysis attributes part of the decline to a move toward more multiyear funding, which reduces the number of award “countable” units even if obligations remain relatively steady. Grant Witness and former Harvard epidemiologist Scott Delaney highlighted a gap between spending levels and the number of grants distributed. The reporting underscores a practical bottleneck for biomedical research—less award volume can translate into fewer funded investigators or projects during review freezes and data-process updates.