Issue 14 (July 8)

Trump Administration Actions (all actions available here):

• Addressing Addiction through the Great American Recovery Initiative (1/29/26)
• Memorandum: Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that are Contrary to the Interests of the United States (1/7/26)
• Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research (12/18/25)
• Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence (12/11/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• President’s Management Agenda (12/8/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Launching the Genesis Mission (11/24/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring (10/15/25)
• Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities and Cross-Cutting Actions (9/23/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers (9/19/25)
• Memorandum: Use of Appropriated Funds for Illegal Lobbying and Partisan Political Activity by Federal Grantees (8/28/25)
• Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking (MORE INFORMATION) (8/7/25)
• Ensuring Transparency in Higher Education Admissions (MORE INFORMATION) (8/7/25)
• Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government (MORE INFORMATION) (7/23/25)
• Creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service (7/17/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Memorandum: Ensuring Accountability and Prioritizing Public Safety in Federal Hiring (7/7/25)
• Establishing the President’s Make America Beautiful Again Commission (7/3/25)
• Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University (6/4/25)
• Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats (6/4/25)
• Restoring Gold Standard Science (5/23/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Increasing Efficiency at the Office of the Federal Register (5/9/25)
• Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research (5/5/25)
• Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research (5/5/25)
• Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service (4/24/25)
• White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (4/23/25)
• Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education (4/23/25)
• PROPOSED RULE: Improving Performance, Accountability, and the Civil Service (4/23/25)
• Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities (4/23/25)
• Extension of Hiring Freeze (4/17/25) 
• Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History (3/27/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities (3/20/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy (3/14/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (3/14/25)
• Implementing the President’s DOGE Cost Efficiency Initiative (2/26/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s DOGE Deregulatory Initiative (2/19/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Radical Transparency about Wasteful Spending (2/18/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission (2/13/25)
• Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative (2/11/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Advancing United States Interests When Funding Nongovernmental Organizations (2/6/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling (1/29/25)
• President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (1/23/25)
• Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (1/23/25)
• Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (1/21/24) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (1/20/25)
• Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Trust to the Federal Government (1/20/25)
• Establishing and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (1/20/25)
• Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions within the Federal Workforce (1/20/25) – Reinstates Trump Administration’s 2020 EO creating a new Schedule F in the Federal Excepted Service 
• Withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO (1/20/25)
• Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements (1/20/25) – Withdraws the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, among other actions.
• Hiring Freeze (1/20/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Return to In-Person Work (1/20/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship (1/20/25)
• Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (1/20/25) – Rescinds dozens of Biden Administration Executive Orders

Find COSSA’s full list of Trump’s Executive Actions and more information here or on the Social Science Space Tracker.

On May 3, the Trump Administration released preliminary, high-level details of its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request, referred to as a “skinny budget.” On May 30, additional details emerged. COSSA released a preliminary analysis for some government agencies on June 18, 2025. This document replaces the June 18 report and provides additional analysis.

When considering an Administration’s budget proposal, it is important to remember that it remains a largely symbolic policy document outlining the Administration’s priorities for the year ahead. While it is possible that some of the President’s requests will be enacted, Congress has the final say over the appropriation of funds. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have already begun marking up their annual appropriations bills, with the science-related funding bills scheduled for consideration in early July.

Given the ongoing gridlock in Congress, it remains unlikely that FY 2026 appropriations bills will be completed on time (i.e., by October 1). This is especially true this year as the Republican leadership in both chambers prioritize passage of a large tax-cut and reconciliation package (see COSSA’s coverage). FY 2026 is all but guaranteed to begin under a continuing resolution (CR) come October 1.

COSSA will continue to report on the progress of FY 2026 funding legislation in the weeks and months ahead. You can follow our coverage here. Learn more about the budget request with the recording of our June Headlines Webinar: Diving into the President’s FY 2026 Budget: Implications for Social and Behavioral Science.

In the meantime, we invite you to read on to learn about the President’s proposals as they pertain to social and behavioral science research.

This month’s Why Social Science? post comes from three participants from this year’s Social Science Advocacy Day who reflected upon their advocacy experiences and the importance of advocating for the social sciences.

Read on for more.

On July 28, join COSSA for the next installment in the Headlines Webinar series. This month’s meeting will cover the latest policy updates and will feature guest speakers from the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR). Come join the conversation.

Featured speakers:

• Krystal Toups, Contracts & Grants Administration Director, COGR
• Cindy Hope, Costing and Financial Compliance Director, COGR
• Kristin West, Research Ethics & Compliance Director, COGR
• Wendy Naus, Executive Director of COSSA

The webinar will be taking place on July 28 at 2pm EST. Register here.

Headlines is a webinar series available to COSSA member organizations. Watch for additional webinar announcements, and previous webinar recordings, on the COSSA website.

On July 4, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). The bill, which has been hotly debated because of provisions pertaining to cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reallocates resources in order to pay for permanent tax cuts and increase funding for border security activities.

The new law also includes several provisions of importance to the research community (see previous COSSA coverage). This includes a new cap on graduate students loans ($100,000) and professional student loans ($200,000); a termination of student loan repayment plans; and an increase of the university endowment tax from 1.4 percent to 8 percent (see Inside Higher Ed’s overview here). The bill also provides $100 million to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to “find” budget cuts over the next decade to reduce the financial impact of the bill, which is estimated to add approximately $3.3 trillion to the national debt over 10 years (see the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s analysis).

Following months of uncertainty, the bill passed the House in a 218-214 vote and the Senate in a 51-50 vote with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Rand Paul (R-KY) were the only Republicans to join the Democrats in voting against the bill in the Senate while Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against the bill on the House side. Stay tuned to COSSA’s coverage of the final bill.

In other news, the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process in the House and Senate is picking up speed. The Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) bill, which funds the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the U.S. Census Bureau, is scheduled to be marked up on July 10 (watch live here). The House was originally scheduled to review their version of the bill earlier this week, however, they have delayed the mark-up for a second time. While House appropriators have indicated intent to reschedule for the week of July 14, it is unclear when the bill will be reviewed. A schedule of the House mark-ups, which is updated regularly, can be found here. COSSA will release an in-depth analysis of the bills once they have been reported out of the Appropriations Committee.

The House Appropriations Committee has already approved its FY 2026 Agriculture; Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; Homeland Security; and Defense bills. Once all twelve bills pass through the House, and the Senate completes their respective twelve bills, the two chambers will be expected to work together to complete the FY 2026 process.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of Congressional activities.

On Wednesday, June 25, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a nomination hearing to consider Dr. Susan Monarez as Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This comes after the previous nominee was pulled just hours by the Administration before their first hearing (previous COSSA coverage). Prior to her nomination, Dr. Monarez served as the acting Director of the CDC from January to March 2025 and the Deputy Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). During the hearing, Dr. Monarez faced extensive questioning about her priorities and goals for the agency if she were confirmed as director. She also fielded several inquiries about the CDC’s role in developing immunization guidelines, and her willingness to disagree with Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.   

Throughout her testimony, Dr. Monarez deflected several questions about recent Executive Actions made by the Trump Administration and HHS Secretary Kennedy, including concerns raised by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) about future staffing and funding for specific offices as well as the funding and program cuts made to the agency while she was acting Director. Further, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) questioned her on whether she disagreed with any of Secretary Kennedy’s health policies, to which she refused to give a clear answer. Dr. Monarez was also questioned by committee members on both sides of the aisle on Secretary Kennedy’s decision to fire all seventeen members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replace them with seven new members, raising concerns within the community; she stopped short of explicitly condemning or condoning his actions (previous COSSA coverage). In response to a line of questioning from Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Dr. Monarez explicitly said she would follow the law over the president’s directive, but only after stating that the president “would never ask [her] to break the law,” an assertion that drew skepticism from various Democratic committee members.  

In addition to outlining her priorities of preventing the spread of communicable disease and supporting Secretary Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, Dr. Monarez also highlighted the importance of data and indicated her intent to “strengthen data collection, analysis, and contribution to public health” in the agency’s future actions.  

A recording of the hearing can be found here.

Monarez will require a full Senate vote prior to being confirmed as CDC Director. Stay tuned for continued COSSA coverage of the confirmation process. 

This article was contributed by COSSA Intern Eva Lettiere.

Additional Guidance on “Gold Standard Science”

As previously reported, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) in May on Restoring Gold Standard Science. On June 23, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memorandum to federal agencies providing additional guidance on how to comply with the order. Federal agencies are directed to report to OSTP on steps taken to comply with the EO by August 22.

A primary criticism of the EO and accompanying guidance has less to do with the order itself—which focuses on reproducibility, transparency, unbiased peer review, and other common research tenets—and more to do with its calling for scientific integrity while the Trump Administration continues to systematically dismantle the federal scientific enterprise. Public conversation around the impacts of the EO continues, with strong opinions on either side. OSTP Director Michael Kratsios published an op-ed in Science in defense of Gold Standard Science, while others in the research community are sounding alarm bells about increased politicization of science, as witnessed these last six months with thousands of peer-reviewed grants having been canceled and federal science agencies restructured. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief of Science, published his own piece last month calling on the scientific enterprise “to reaffirm its values and hold its members to them, irrespective of actions from a government entity in the United States or elsewhere.

Watch COSSA’s coverage for new developments.

NSF to Lose its HQ in Virginia

Employees of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Members of Congress alike were blindsided by the announcement last month that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will be taking over the NSF building in Alexandria, VA in the coming months. NSF employees were notified of the change the morning the move was announced at a press conference. Members of Congress representing Virginia sent a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal agency buildings, demanding answers to several questions, including whether NSF was consulted in this decision and details on what the move would mean for NSF. They asked for GSA’s response by July 11.

Additional coverage, including the memo sent to NSF staff, is available here. This is a developing story.

ICYMI: Federal Judge Restores NIH Grants

Last month, a federal judge ruled that actions taken by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to terminate approximately 800 grants were “arbitrary and capricious” and that funding must be immediately restored. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH’s parent department, says it is exploring filing an appeal and a stay order.

The list of restored grants is available in the court rulings here and here.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a notice to inform the biomedical research community of a termination of funding for gain-of-function research outside of the U.S. and a suspension of funding for any other projects or programs relating to gain-of-function research. Gain-of-function research has been a point of contention for many Congressional Republicans since the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the research (see previous COSSA coverage). The notice, which was prompted by a guidance to NIH by the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), is in-line with the Administration’s Executive Order (EO) on Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research, which calls for increased restrictions and oversight on gain-of-function research.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of the Trump Administration’s activities.

On July 7, the Department of Education announced that Dr. Matthew Soldner will serve as Acting Commissioner of the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical arm of the agency that develops key surveys such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). He is also currently serving as the Acting Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

Soldner previously served as IES’s Commissioner of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. He will replace Dr. Peggy Carr who was abruptly placed on administrative leave earlier this year after serving for nearly twenty years.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking public input into its current list of “key technology focus areas” to guide the work of the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate. Comments are due by July 21, 2025.

The TIP Directorate was created in 2022 to support “use-inspired” research with the goal of “fostering innovation and technology ecosystems, establishing translation pathways, and partnering across sectors to engage the nation’s diverse talent.” Included in its authorizing legislation was a list of ten initial key technology focus areas, set by Congress, that the Directorate was tasked to address in its first three years. These included: artificial intelligence and machine learning; high performance computing, semiconductors, and advanced computer hardware and software; quantum information science and technology; robotics, automation, and advanced manufacturing; natural and anthropogenic disaster prevention or mitigation; advanced communications technology and immersive technology; biotechnology, medical technology, genomics, and synthetic biology; data storage, data management, distributed ledger technologies, and cybersecurity; advanced energy and industrial efficiency technologies; and advanced materials science.

The new RFI seeks responses to several questions related to the original ten focus areas. For example, one question asks respondents to identify the three most important technology areas for addressing: “geopolitical technology competition; potential to power significant economic growth; ability to advance national security capabilities; likelihood to experience significant talent gaps or workforce availability risks; and the need for use-inspired and translational research to mature the technology.”

Following up on the Bethesda Declaration signed by employees from the National Institutes of Health in June, more than 600 employees of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have signed a Declaration of Dissent addressed to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. In it, employees raise five primary concerns about actions taken by EPA leadership or the Trump Administration, including: (1) undermining public trust, (2) ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters, (3) reversing EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities, (4) dismantling the Office of Research and Development, and (5) promoting a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.

Additional details are available here.

Nominations are now being accepted for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) awards to be presented in 2026. Since 1886, the National Academy of Sciences has honored more than 1,000 individuals in the physical, biological, and social sciences through its awards program. 2026 Awards will be given in a variety of fields including artificial intelligence, computer science, mathematics, medical sciences, social sciences, psychology, and more. See the full list of awards here.

Submissions will be accepted through Oct. 6, 2025. Learn more about the awards and the submission process here.

The application window for the Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is now open. This 12-week fellowship is intended for current or recent graduate students to gain a broader understanding of science and technology policy as well as to explore possible career prospects that engage science and policy communities. The newest session will run from March 2, 2026 to May 22, 2026.

More information on how to apply is available here and the deadline to apply is August 20, 2025.

The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) has announced their call for nominations for the 2026 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize in Social Science and Public Policy. The Moynihan Prize is an annual honor created to recognize social scientists, public officials, and civic leaders who champion the use of informed judgment to advance the public good.

The winner will deliver the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lecture on Social Science and Public Policy in Washington, DC, next fall. Nominations will be accepted through November 1, 2025 and can be submitted on the AAPSS website. AAPSS is a COSSA member organization.

Learn more about the Moynihan Prize here and save the date for October 30, 2025 when historian Timothy Snyder will accept the 2025 award and deliver the Moynihan Lecture in Washington, DC.