Search Results: federal grants
House Science Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Federal Research Funds
On June 24, the House Science, Space, and Technology (SST) Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held a hearing titled, Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Hearing – Safeguarding Federal Research Funds: The False Claims Act’s Role in Combating Grant Fraud. Witnesses included Robert Steinau, Senior Official Performing the Duties of Inspector General, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of the Inspector General; Jennifer Springmann, Special Agent in Charge, National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of the Inspector General; and Brenna Jenny, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Commercial Litigation Branch, Department of Justice (DOJ). Chairman Rich McCormick (R-GA) began the hearing by expressing concern…
White House Proposes Sweeping Changes to Federal Grant Rules – Comments Due July 13
At the end of May, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a proposed rule, Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance, that would make major changes to the Uniform Guidance governing federal financial assistance, including federal research grants. The rule would implement proposals made by the Trump Administration through various executive orders over the last year, including the Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking order and Restoring Gold Standard Science order, among others. Among the changes are, but not limited to: Proposed changes to the Uniform Guidance have been anticipated for several months. Still the sweeping nature of the changes, if implemented, would fundamentally alter the…
New Action Alert: Write to Congress TODAY about the Need to Reopen the Federal Government
Funding for most government activities expired at midnight on September 30. Since Congress has failed to reach an agreement to keep the government open, all federal agencies are now shut down. The shutdown and lack of clarity on FY 2026 funding damages the ability of federal science agencies like the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Institute of Education Sciences, and federal statistical agencies to meet their missions. Those harms are passed on to researchers who rely on support from the federal government. Federal science and statistical agencies have already experienced destructive effects this year as a result of…
GAO Releases Review of Federal Agency Policies on Foreign Interference in Research
On December 17, 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report reviewing the policies at five major federal research agencies intended to secure federally funded research from foreign interference. The five agencies under review, the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Science Foundation (NSF), were evaluated on their existing policies requiring researchers to disclose foreign conflicts of interest – including non-financial conflicts of interest such as honorary appointments – and their procedures for addressing failures to disclose these conflicts of interest. Findings from…
Federal Research Agencies Release Guidance on OMB’s Administrative Flexibility Changes
In response to a June 18 memo (M 20-26) issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extending certain administrative flexibilities to federal grant recipients as relief for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, federal research agencies have released guidance statements clarifying the memo’s implications for recipients of research grants. On June 25, both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) released nearly identical sets of guidance in response to the OMB memo explaining how the changes to the flexibilities will specifically affect recipients of their grants. The flexibilities include an allowance to continue…
Rand Paul Introduces Bill to “Reform” Federal Research Grant System
On October 18, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Chair of the Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hosted a hearing entitled “Broken Beakers: Federal Support for Research.” Following the hearing Sen. Paul introduced the BASIC Research Act (S. 1973) to “reform” the federal research grant system. The bill would alter how grant proposals at all federal research funding agencies are reviewed by adding non-expert members of the public to review panels and requiring all applications for federal research grants to be made public. The bill also proposes the elimination of the Inspector…
Federal Agencies Clarify Programmatic Goals and Specific Interests for Multiscale Modeling Initiative
In December 2016, seven federal agencies–National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Army Research Office (ARO), Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR)–released a notice (NOT-EB-16-011) clarifying the programmatic goals and specific interests of the interagency funding opportunity announcement Predictive Multiscale Models for Biomedical, Biological, Behavioral, Environmental and Clinical Research (PAR-15-085). See the notice for full details. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
IES Seeks Comments on NCER-NPSAS Grants
The National Center for Education Research (NCER) within the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is proposing a new information collection as part of an ongoing collaboration between NCER and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—also located within IES—and is seeking comments. The NCER supports research projects using subsamples of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), a nationally-representative sample of postsecondary institutions and students fielded every three to four years. The goal for the proposed new collection is to facilitate “one-off” research projects. The Department is specifically interested in comments addressing the following questions: “(1) Is…
Reducing the Regulatory Burden on Federally-Funded Researchers
Summary Over the past several years, the scientific community and policymakers alike have become increasingly concerned about the amount of time and resources scientists must devote to administrative tasks in order to apply for and comply with the terms of federal research grants. Lengthy application processes with pre- and post-award requirements, complex accreditation mechanisms, complicated accounting and purchasing regulations, and reporting requirements are just some of the burdensome requirements on federally-funded researchers. Stakeholders in the federal government and scientific community are seeking a remedy, but finding one has proven difficult. The following pages discuss some of the major efforts made…
House Approves Symbolic Attacks on NIH Grants
Note: This article was originally published on September 13, 2004. We’ve reposted it from COSSA’s archives due to its resonance with today’s climate in Congress. When a Federal agency has its budget doubled in five years, its expenditures attract a great deal of attention. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been a “most favored” agency for many years. In the eyes of many of its supporters on Capitol Hill, the research it funds saves lives, including in some cases, their own. Thus, from 1998 to 2003 NIH’s budget grew from $13 billion to over $27 billion. NIH uses an elaborate system…
House Appropriations Committee holds OMB Oversight Hearing
On June 30, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government held an oversight hearing on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with testimony from Director Russell Vought. During the hearing, several House Republicans, including Chairman David Joyce (R-OH), questioned Vought on OMB’s budget; and Vought praised the Administration’s efforts to end “fiscal futility.” Ranking Member Steny Hoyer (D-MD) Representative Glenn Ivey (D-MD) also expressed disappointment that the Committee did not hold a budget hearing before voting on the appropriations bills (see previous coverage). The line of questioning quickly turned to unreleased fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriated funds and…
Congress Turns to Final Appropriations Bills Following End of Government Shutdown
As previously reported by COSSA, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that extends fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding through to January 30, 2026, ending the weeks-long government shutdown and giving Appropriators additional time to finish their work on FY 2026 funding. Currently, only three appropriations bills have been enacted into law—each having been attached to the CR—including the Agriculture bill, Legislative Branch bill, and Veteran Affairs bill. Despite delays, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has reiterated that the Senate has plans to consider the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS), Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS), and Transportation,…
SSRC, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Offer Research Relief Funding
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), with generous support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is offering emergency funding to principal investigators (PIs) conducting economics-related research whose federal grants have been terminated by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Economic Research Rescue Fund is intended for PIs who received an NSF award prior to June 1, 2025 and had their award terminated, cancelled or suspended. Effected researchers can apply for funding up to $250,000 to help mitigate disruptions to the economics-related project. Full details are available here. SSRC is a COSSA member organization.
Trump Science Advisor Outlines Science Vision
On May 19, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) hosted a conversation with Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). A recording is available here. A discussion with NAS President Marcia McNutt followed Kratsios’ remarks. Kratsios expressed strong opinions about the current state of the U.S. scientific enterprise, stating, “To empower America’s researchers to achieve groundbreaking discoveries and to reinvigorate our national science enterprise, we must scrutinize our existing approach and recommit ourselves to best practices.” He contended that despite “soaring” biomedical research budgets in recent years, “scientific progress has stalled,” and that “more…
Senators Baldwin and Welch Host Town Hall on Cuts to Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease Cures
On March 26, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Peter Welch (D-VT) hosted a Congressional townhall on Trump and Musk’s Cuts to Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease Cures. The event was held in response to efforts by the Administration to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including major reductions in the NIH workforce. The town hall featured remarks from former NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli; Dr. Sterling Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor and Associate Director of Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center; Dr. Whitney Wharton, Emory University Associate Professor and Alzheimer’s Disease researcher; Dr. Larry Saltzman, former Executive Research Director for…
Latest from the White House (March 4)
COSSA continues to report on executive actions taken by the Trump Administration and the impact those actions are having on the social and behavioral science community. Below are some of the latest developments coming out of the White House. Past updates are available here. ‘Radical Transparency’ About Wasteful Spending As previously reported by COSSA, the Trump Administration has prioritized cutting “government waste” in the first six weeks of his term. On February 18, an Executive Order (EO) was published titled, Radical Transparency About Wasteful Spending in which the Administration directs federal agencies to make public “the complete details of every terminated program, cancelled contract,…
Latest from the White House (February 18)
As previously reported, the Trump Administration has from day one been issuing a dizzying number of executive actions, some whose legality remain in question. Below are some of the latest developments coming out of the White House. Federal Workforce Last week, as part of an Executive Order on “workforce optimization,” the President’s Office of Personnel Management directed federal agencies to fire “trial and probationary” employees, providing little other guidance on how to do it. Typically, probationary employees are those within 1-3 years of service in their position. Democratic lawmakers and government worker unions are pushing back, arguing the long-term damage that…
Awards
About Us Home » About Us » Awards About Us Board of Directors Our Team Bylaws Annual Awards In the News History Annual Awards COSSA believes that research in the social and behavioral sciences can change lives, and welcomes an opportunity to acknowledge individuals, groups, and organizations that are making it happen. COSSA’s annual Distinguished Service and Public Impacts Awards recognize the people and organizations who advance the social and behavioral science enterprise to affect meaningful change. Awardees are chosen by the COSSA Board of Directors, which represents COSSA’s governing member associations. The awards are presented during COSSA’s annual Social Science…
COSSA Presents 2017 Distinguished Service Award to Senators Gardner and Peters
On March 29, as part of the 2017 COSSA Science Policy Conference and Celebration of Social Science Capitol Hill Reception, COSSA presented the 2017 Distinguished Service Award to Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Gary Peters (D-MI). The COSSA Distinguished Service award recognizes leaders who have gone above and beyond to promote, protect, and advance the social and behavioral science research enterprise. Awardees are chosen by the COSSA Board of Directors, which represents COSSA’s governing member associations. Senators Gardner and Peters were recognized for their bipartisan work on the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA), legislation that reauthorizes activities at the…
Senate Advances Continuing Resolution That Would Temporarily Block OMB Rule
Before departing for August recess, the Senate passed a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) that would extend current federal funding through December 11 to allow Congress additional time to complete the fiscal year (FY) 2027 appropriations process (the current deadline is September 30). The Senate’s stopgap measure will need to be passed by the House, which is currently on recess and not slated to return until August 31. While the House also passed a CR before departing Capitol Hill, it did not include a list of anomalies requested by President Trump after the bill was sent to the Senate (see previous…