National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya faced critical questions from both Republican and Democratic senators Tuesday as he sought to defend the Trump administration’s sweeping plans to reorganize the agency and slash budgets for medical research.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the NIH director, repeatedly pledged during the hour and a half hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee that the 40 percent cut would not change the agency’s commitment to research that keeps America at the forefront of scientific and medical innovation.