BUFFALO, NY (THE WORLD TELEGRAM NEWS) – Scientists, Nurses, Doctors, Advocates, and members of the community held demonstrations in Downtown Buffalo in front of City Hall to protest federal funding and staffing cuts to programs like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Oceanic and Atmostpheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service (NWS), among other cuts, including to the Department of Education amid concern that the Trump Administration could disband the DOE, or face severe reductions.
Over the multi-hour demonstration, speakers from different parts of the science and medicine industry spoke about the benefits they received from federal grants, such as those provided by NIST and the NIH. There were speeches delivered by children, one of whom is a cancer survivor who attributed their recovery to the funding these programs provided.
This comes days after President Trump’s joint address to Congress, where he spoke of the changes since Inauguration Day, saying,
“...every day, my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs to bring a future that America deserves. and we're doing it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action. Upon taking office I imposed an immediate freeze on all federal hiring, a freeze on all new federal regulations and a freeze on all foreign aid. I terminated the ridiculous green new scam. I withdrew from the unfair Paris climate accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying. I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization, and I also withdrew from the anti-American UN human rights council. We ended all of Biden's environmental restrictions that we're making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And importantly, we ended the last administration's insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction”.
President Trump later added, “We've ended the tyranny of so called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed the private sector and our military. And our country will be woke no longer." referring to Executive Order 14151, titled "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.”. These changes align with a restructuring led by President Trump and Department of Government Efficiency head, Elon Musk, which sparked confusion among federal employees over the past few weeks over cryptic emails, mass firings in the multi-thousands, and other measures. A memo from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management stated that the primary objectives are to increase productivity and reduce full-time employees by eliminating positions deemed unnecessary. Russell Vought, one of the key figures behind Project 2025, played a prominent role in drafting this restructuring plan. Project 2025 also referenced a restructuring of the federal workforce through the Schedule F job classification which would make it easier to fire federal employees.
At the protest, there were signs held by a demonstrator expressing their support for “transgender mice”, referencing a statement President Trump made during his joint address to Congress. This statement was a reference a March 5th post by DOGE on X, alleging that the NIH cancelled seven grants for transgender experiments on animals including: - $532K to “use a mouse model to investigate the effects of cross-sex testosterone treatment” - $33K to test “feminizing hormone therapy in the male rat”. President Trump echoed these findings during his joint address to Congress, calling them “Transgender Mice”. The project, officially known as “Cross Sex Steroid Therapy and Cardiovascular Risk in the Transgender Female” was led by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and was meant to test the risks of estrogen, androgen, and steroid treatment on mice, and whether or not Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) led to cardiovascular failure. The project, hosted on nih.gov, notes that GAHT is important for treating gender dysphoria, but research using experimental models is scarce. It makes the case that innovative animal models are needed to assess risks and understand mechanisms behind increased cardiovascular risk in transgender individuals undergoing gender-affirming care. The withdrawal from this study, among others, also stems from Executive Order 14151, signed on inauguration day, calling for the termination to “all “equity action plans,” “equity” actions, initiatives, or programs, “equity-related” grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.”
The World Telegram News’ Edvardi Jackson spoke with the Organizer, Michael Feigan, about his decision to hold the demonstration. “Right now, science is under attack by our government. Cutting funding, firing scientists, and really just destroying our ability to do the science that we do.”, he told the publication. “I think everyday people should know that the federal money that comes to support science is extremely important for funding the next generation of science.”, adding, “We’re losing the next generation of scientists because money is being cut, and so that’s one problem. The other problem is all this money that’s being cut—$4 billion was cut from the NIH budget—and this is the money that goes to supporting cancer research and neuroscience research. And I don’t know if this is what people voted for. You know, did people actually vote to cut cancer research? Because that’s what’s happening right now.”. Feigan is a professor at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, which is among the various facilities that could have its funding cut considerably, if not already, by President Trump’s federal mandate against DEI and “Wasteful spending”. President Trump defended this choice in a memo, writing “For too long, taxpayers have subsidized ideological projects overseas and domestic organizations engaged in actions that undermine the national interest.”
David O’Donnell, owner of the Eastern Monarch Butterfly Farm in Clarence, NY was present at the protest, being widely known as the “Butterfly Man” online and in social circles. Speaking to The World Telegram News, he explained the thought process behind his sign, featuring a monarch butterfly with text under it saying “Science is IMPORTANT, Trump is NOT!!!”, telling The World Telegram News, "They’re rescinding a lot of good laws, and basically, it’s bad for the planet—not only the United States but the rest of the world. So, monarch butterflies segue into environmental issues. No matter what our divisive ideologies are, we don’t argue about monarch butterflies. It really brings people together. I like to call them America’s butterfly—it kind of gets both sides together. And that’s why we do what we do, because basically, the environment is the foundation of human civilization. And if you can’t save something like a monarch butterfly, then what hope is there for us? You know, it really brings people’s attention.”.
The World Telegram News also spoke to Lily, a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and member of “Power to the People - Upstate New York”. “it’s so frustrating from my perspective to be a woman of science, to be working in the community trying to help these people, and to have these ignorant politicians making baseless threats that puts the comfort and security of my patients care at risk.”, she noted, adding that her patients felt distressed over actions by the Trump Administration, mentioning the appointment of RFK Jr. as Human Health Services Secretary and how that could affect prescription psychiatric medicine. Lily continued, saying she was appalled and disgusted by President Trump’s policy on transgender individuals, recently culminating in the removal of these individuals from the military.
“…it blows my mind. Their reaction and their hatred is so disproportionate to the number of people affected. It truly makes it feel like it’s a witch hunt to go after such a small minority of people over an issue that has nothing to do with public life.” – Lily
Aside from industry leaders, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, and Senator Sean Ryan were also present at the gathering, holding speeches. “We can take our destiny into our own hands. We’re going to fight on national fronts. We’re going to fight on global fronts. But we’re going to make sure we take care of things in our state, in our county, in our city”, said Senator Ryan. County Executive Poloncarz spoke after Senator Ryan, talking about the impact to federal grants given by programs like NIST and NIH, calling it a “a wholesale attack on science in America.”. WTN News tried flagging them down for an interview, but neither was available for comment. Also giving a speech was Braiden McElhaney, a local realtor and candidate for the Orchard Park town board, who spoke exclusively to The World Telegram News afterwards. “I chose to come out here because science is literally life, and when we see from the Trump administration, cuts to essential cancer research, and medical research and cuts to education… we need to stand up and we need to talk about it.”. He noted in his speech that Western New York was home to multiple research sites for different fields, telling WTN News “A lot of the people I talk to are concerned—and rightly so— in the community that I’m in, there’s a lot of doctors and healthcare professionals. They’re concerned about their job security, they’re concerned about their patients, this is really an issue that’s affecting Buffalo and the south towns, quite directly.”