A slew of orders from the Trump administration in recent days could fundamentally alter Maryland’s economic landscape, with families, small businesses and medical patients across America bearing the brunt.

The administration this month ordered a $4 billion annual cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) medical research efforts. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order, but if left to stand it will leave many Marylanders unemployed and will curb research into medical treatments that could benefit millions of Americans each year.

Consider prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, with the support of R&D funds, discovered and developed a groundbreaking imaging agent that could be used in prostate cancer detection. Known as Pylarify, the product is now the market leader for prostate cancer diagnostic imaging via PET scan and is estimated to have been used in over 250,000 patient scans in 2024 alone.

NIH grants also enable entrepreneurship and jobs. When medical breakthroughs are discovered in the lab, they can be transferred to startup companies that are best positioned to bring them to patients. At the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins combined, an estimated 290 affiliated startups have commercialized technologies discovered by their researchers, bringing billions of dollars into Maryland’s economy and creating thousands of local jobs.

Maryland’s biotechnology companies and research institutes consistently rank #1 in the nation for NIH grants. Just $1 of NIH-funded research generates $2.46 in economic activity across America. Given that Maryland researchers earn $1.3 billion in such funds each year, this is a $3.2 billion piston in our economic engine, enabling tens of thousands of Marylanders to earn good paychecks while advancing medical innovation for patients.

Cutting NIH grants is only the first headwind. The Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, has frozen work for many Marylanders who work in government or for technology firms that contract with federal agencies.

Maryland’s most innovative companies win federal contracts to protect Americans at home and abroad. They manufacture vaccines for biodefense, supply manned and unmanned aircraft to our military, and protect our computer networks and electric grid.

All told, our cyber, information technology, aerospace and aviation, and life sciences industries comprise more than 10,000 local companies and nearly 400,000 workers. Combined with our research institutes, they accounted for $42 billion in federal procurement in 2022, representing 10% of the state’s total goods and services.

Excessive, untargeted job freezes and layoffs pose a dual risk: economic hardship for Maryland businesses and workers, and risk to America’s national defense and public health.

Federal policies aren’t the only headwinds Maryland’s innovation ecosystem faces. State lawmakers are considering new tax increases that would impact these very same companies. Proposals such as combined reporting and higher taxes on pass-through business entities will make it harder to convince businesses that Maryland is the most welcoming state to expand and create jobs.

We can all agree that the highest priority we have is to ensure the safety and security of the United States. Maryland’s life sciences and technology workforce make that goal possible. Turning off Maryland’s economic engine won’t simply harm Maryland workers who advance these innovations, it risks leaving Americans less safe and with less hope for the medical breakthroughs they deserve.

Kelly Schulz is chief executive officer of the Maryland Tech Council, the largest technology and life sciences trade association in the state. She previously served as Maryland’s secretary of commerce and secretary of labor and was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.