• In the wake of mounting controversy at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—including public backlash over Acting Deputy Director Nicole Kleinstreuer’s defense of animal testing—Congress is turning up the pressure. White Coat Waste (WCW) has rallied lawmakers to directly confront the agency’s dog and cat labs, misguided priorities, and reckless spending.
• WCW has exclusively uncovered how the NIH is doubling down on dog and cat testing—including ongoing experiments first funded by Dr. Fauci. This comes despite the agency’s public rhetoric about alternatives and a shift toward “human-relevant science.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy, Department of Veterans Affairs, and EPA have eliminated such testing in direct response to WCW’s investigations.
• Citing WCW’s exclusive findings, 11 House lawmakers led by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) are now demanding that NIH immediately cancel active Fauci-funded grants for dog and cat experiments—and prohibit all new funding for these labs. The letter is addressed directly to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, now under fire for defending his agency’s animal testing spree.
• The lawmakers explicitly cite WCW’s investigations: “Ongoing investigations by the non-profit group White Coat Waste have documented how the NIH continues to renew and fund dozens of Dr. Fauci’s disturbing experiments on dogs and cats in labs around the world, in which animals are infested with insects, infected with viruses, force-fed experimental drugs, and killed.”
• NIH leadership isn’t backing down. Kleinstreuer recently told NPR: “We have no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight. We know that animal studies are still very important and often scientifically justified.”
• WCW is the only organization holding NIH accountable for wasteful spending that harms both taxpayers and pets. While legacy groups issue performative applause for NIH bureaucrats, WCW follows the money, uncovers the cruelty, and forces Congressional oversight.

Following years of WCW investigations, Freedom of Information Act requests, lawsuits, lobbying, and grassroots advocacy, the Trump Administration’s Department of the Navy just banned all testing on dogs and cats, and the Department of Veterans Affairs has eliminated experiments on dogs, cats, and primates—all in direct response to WCW’s work.

Meanwhile, NIH leadership is doubling down.

WCW has exposed how leadership at the National Institutes of Health has been doubling down on dozens of deadly dog and cat labs, including renewing funding for Dr. Anthony Fauci’s infamous maximum pain tick experiments on beagles.

Unfortunately, the NIH’s expanded funding for pet abuse isn’t a bug—it’s a feature.

Just a few weeks ago, NIH Acting Deputy Director Nicole Kleinstreuer told NPR: “We have no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight. We know that animal studies are still very important and often scientifically justified.”

While other federal agencies are cutting or banning animal testing, the NIH is defending it. And now, citing WCW’s exclusive investigations, Congress is demanding accountability.

President Trump made animal cruelty a felony in 2019. So why is @NIH still torturing animals under Fauci-era programs?

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya @DrJBhattacharya was supposed to clean house, but his deputy, Nicole Kleinstreuer @NKleinstreuer, is an Obama-era Fauci fangirl who is… pic.twitter.com/G5bChig59D

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 8, 2025

In a new letter to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, 11 lawmakers led by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) are demanding that NIH join the Navy and VA and end its funding for cruel dog and cat experiments. 

Specifically, the letter demands Bhattacharya to:

• Immediately cancel all active funding for dog and cat experiments approved under Fauci
• Prohibit all new NIH grants for harmful dog and cat testing
• Disclose all current taxpayer funding for these experiments

Rep. Gosar’s letter was co-signed by Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Daniel Webster (R-FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Scott Perry (R-PA), Pete Stauber (R-MN), Michael Cloud (R-TX),  Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Pat Fallon (R-TX).

Legacy animal rights groups continue to heap performative praise on the NIH for its empty promises to “reduce” animal testing—when alternatives are ready, at some undisclosed time in the future.

Meanwhile, the NIH under Bhattacharya and Kleinstreuer refuses to cut animal labs, renews their funding, and defends the abuse as “vital.”

Cats and dogs are suffering in these labs right now. If animals are forced to wait for alternatives that don’t exist—or that aren’t even necessary—they’ll be waiting forever.

Animals can’t wait. They won’t wait. We won’t either.

White Coat Waste is the only organization fighting to hold the NIH accountable for continuing to waste tax dollars on experiments that abuse pets.

The solution is simple: