Issue 15 (July 22)

Trump Administration Actions (all actions available here):

• 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.

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.

Over the last few weeks, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released and began consideration of their fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills, including the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bills, which funds the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the U.S. Census Bureau. On July 10, the Senate made their first attempt to advance the CJS bill through the Appropriations Committee, only to call for an extended recess following arguments over the relocation of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) headquarters and other provisions. The following week, on July 17, the committee reconvened to successfully advance the bill. The Senate released the bill text and the report language. Funding levels included in the bill:

• $9 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), a $60 million decrease from FY 2025 but $5.1 billion above the Presidential request;
• $1.5 billion for the Bureau of the Census, a $138 million increase from FY 2025 but $156.2 million below the Presidential request;
• $33 million for the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and $27 million for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a $2 million and $3 million decrease from FY 2025 respectively. BJS request would be flat with and NIJ’s request would be $5 million above the Presidential request.

On July 15, the House Appropriations Subcommittee advanced its version of the CJS bill, clearing the way for a full-committee vote on July 24 (watch live here). The House released the bill text and a summary of the bill, but has yet to release report language, which will include more details on the budgetary decisions made by the committee. Highlights from the bill include:

• $7 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), a $2.06 billion decrease from FY 2025 but $3.1 billion above the Presidential request;
• $1.6 billion for the Bureau of the Census, a $294 million increase from FY 2025 and $2 million above the President’s request.

COSSA will be developing an in-depth analysis, but it’s important to note that the House has closely followed the numbers outlined in the Presidential Budget Request while the Senate’s funding levels are closer to the FY 2025 continuing resolution (CR) levels (see analysis here).

On July 22, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced that he would be shutting down the House ahead of August recess to avoid a vote on releasing documents to the public on the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. Late last week, the House Appropriations Committee had already delayed the mark-up of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations (LHHS) bill, which provides appropriations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other HHS agencies, the Department of Education, and the Department of Labor. With the House not scheduled to return until September, it’s unlikely the House will have time to review the LHHS bill before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. 

In other news, Congress passed a recissions package late last week, clawing back FY 2025 appropriated funding. The package narrowly passed the House (216-213) and Senate (51-48) and slashed $9 billion in federal funding for public media and international aid. Passing recissions is rare as it requires Congress to withdraw funding they enacted in the previous session, seceding partial power of the purse to the President. While the recissions do not directly impact the social and behavioral sciences, it’s important to note that if Congress passes a CR for FY 2026, another recissions package could be the Trump Administration’s work-around for cutting funding.

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

President Trump Establishes New “Schedule G” Federal Worker Classification 

On July 17, President Trump issued an executive order (EO), Creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service, which seeks to create a new employee classification within the federal workforce. This effort comes on the heels of the Trump Administration’s addition of a new “Schedule Policy/Career” classification, making it easier to terminate certain career (or non-political) federal employees whose positions are “policy-influencing” (see previous coverage).

According to a White House fact sheet: “Creating Schedule G fills [a] gap and facilitates appointments of non-career federal employees who will serve temporarily and implement the policy agenda prescribed by the American people through our elections.” In other words, Schedule G would include political appointees who would serve at the pleasure of the President and not be career civil servants.

The EO is causing some confusion with many trying to understand how the new class would differ from Schedule C, which already provides the President with broad authority to make political appointments. However, one theory is that the new G classification would allow for more senior-level political appointments that could provide salaries in excess of the Schedule C pay scale. Others worry that this move is intended further consolidate the federal workforce to include those most aligned with the President’s policies.

This is a developing story. 

On July 1, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) adopted their new Public Access Policy in response to the August 2022 memorandum issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The memorandum requires federal agencies to make peer-reviewed publications, resulting from federal funding, freely available to the public immediately following publication (see previous COSSA coverage).

Manuscripts published after July 1 will be required to follow the new guidelines. NIH has developed a website to help researchers with the transition process. 

On July 10, Dr. Mark Calabria was appointed as the new Chief Statistician at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), replacing Dr. Karin Orvis. Calabria currently serves as the Associate Director for Treasury, Housing, and Commerce, a role he will continue in during his tenure as Chief Statistician (see White House announcement). Before his appointment, Calabria was a Senior Advisor at the Cato Institute, and during the first term of the Trump Administration, Calabria served as the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). He also previously served as the Chief Economist to Vice President Mike Pence.

Orvis, who was appointed as Chief Statistician in 2022, will remain with the agency as the Branch Chief for Statistical and Social Policy (see previous COSSA coverage). 

Last month, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) held a meeting of the study committee on guidelines for corrections and retractions in published scientific papers. The study committee heard presentations from Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, Caitlin Bakker, chair of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Working Group on Communications of Retractions, and Ivan Oransky, director of Retraction Watch. During the meeting, committee members debated how to balance the interests and responsibilities of competing stakeholders, such as universities, funders, and journal editors and publishers, and how to incentivize retraction investigations and publications. Presenters and committee members repeatedly emphasized the need for transparency throughout the retractions process, though they disagreed on the best format for doing so; the need to break the stigma around journal retractions was also raised. Future meetings will likely continue to discuss how to best balance achieving the practical aims of retractions with considerations of the role retractions play in public trust in science.  

As of right now, future meetings have not been scheduled. A recording of the meeting can be found here.

This article was contributed by COSSA Intern Eva Lettiere.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) announced applications for the next cohort of their New Voices program are now open. The program invites applications from emerging U.S.-based leaders across all disciplines of the sciences, engineering, and medicine. Ideal candidates will have an established record of professional excellence and a demonstrated commitment to service beyond their immediate discipline and institution. 

Launched in 2018, the New Voices program aims to bring fresh perspectives from mid-career professionals to important dialogues around how science, engineering, and medicine are shaping the global future.

Membership in the New Voices program offers the opportunity to join a network of leaders across the sciences, engineering, and medicine. Members will explore interdisciplinary approaches to addressing global issues, learn how the National Academies impact science policy at the federal level, get involved with the global movement of young scientists, engineers, and medical professionals, and represent New Voices at international forums.

Applications are due September 3, 2025. Visit the NASEM website for more information about the New Voices initiative and submission guidelines. 

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.