Issue 22 (November 11)

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.

On December 10, join COSSA for the final Headlines webinar of the year. We will cover key policy developments and Congressional activity that affected the social and behavioral sciences in 2025 and preview what’s ahead for 2026. Register now and join the conversation.

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

This month’s Why Social Science? post comes from Lisa Schamess from the American Association of Geographers (AAG) about celebrating Geography Week and how geography is essential to our daily lives.

Read on for more.

COSSA’s annual Social Science Advocacy Day is BACK and will take place March 23-24, 2026 in Washington, DC! This signature, members-only event brings together social and behavioral science researchers, faculty, students, association professionals, and other advocates from across the country. Together, we’ll meet with elected officials in Congress to discuss the value of our sciences and the importance of federal funding.

Early Bird Registration will be open next month. Stay tuned for more details and sponsorship opportunities. Until then, save the date and share this exciting opportunity with your colleagues.

Visit the COSSA website for the latest information on Social Science Advocacy Day.

Late Monday night, seven Senate Democrats and one Independent joined Senate Republicans to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that would extend fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding through January 30, 2026. As a reminder, FY 2025 was enacted under a year-long CR, funding the federal government with FY 2024 levels. Senate Republicans managed to wrangle the necessary 60 votes with support from Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Angus King (I-ME). Several concessions were reportedly made to secure the agreement, including a verbal promise to vote on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies before their expiration at the end of December. Also included in the bill is new language that would guarantee backpay for federal employees furloughed during the government shutdown, reverse the Trump Administration’s mass layoffs since Oct 1, and prohibit mass federal terminations until FY 2026 funding can be passed through regular order. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) proposed an amendment to limit the President’s ability to enact pocket recessions, but it failed in a 47-53 vote along party lines.

With the Senate’s stamp of approval, the new proposal will need to be passed without revisions or amendments by the House. As previously reported by COSSA, House Republicans have not been in session since they advanced their initial CR in September in an unprecedented strategy to force concessions from the Senate Democrats. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has called House Republicans back to the Hill, offering a 36-hour window for necessary travel time. On the other side of the aisle, House Democrats have largely criticized the new spending package, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) reiterating the necessity of advancing an extension of the ACA subsidies. While House Republicans have the majority needed to pass any final agreement along party lines, it’s unclear whether they will be willing to agree to the Senate Republicans concessions. Further, while Senate Republicans have promised to take up the measure in a non-binding, verbal agreement, House Speaker Johnson has not indicated intent to do the same, leaving many uncertain whether a vote would happen at all. Any final agreement would also require the signature of the President, who has yet to formally comment on the new package.

In other news, with the end of the longest government shutdown in history potentially in sight, the Senate is turning its attention back to the FY 2026 appropriations bills. According to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), the Senate is set to consider the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS), Commerce, Justice, and Science, and Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) bills as early as next week. The bills would be packaged into one minibus, using the Defense bill as a vehicle to pass the other, more controversial bills. Still, the minibus may face several hurdles, including disagreements over language to prevent pocket recissions, as proposed previously by Sen. Merkley.

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage on the appropriations process.

In September, a White House proclamation, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, was issued stating, “the entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation under [the H-1B visa program], is restricted, except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000.” The fee applies to petitions filed after September 21, 2025. 

The announcement caused concern and confusion across the higher education and research communities, including whether the fee is intended for private sector employers or if it would also apply to U.S. colleges and universities who rely on H-1B visas for employees with specialized scientific training.

In October, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarified that the fee does not apply to recent graduates of U.S. institutions planning to work in the U.S. as that scenario would constitute a change of status from a student F-1 visa to an H-1B visa. However, there remains no blanket exemption for university employers as sought by higher education associations.

The new policy is being challenged in court by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition that includes the American Association of University Professors.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent panel that makes recommendations on clinical preventive services and health promotion, has had their November meeting cancelled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), blaming the government shutdown despite no federal employees serving on the task force. This is the second meeting cancelled this year; the task force traditionally meets three times a year to review and revise recommendations. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly indicated intent to overhaul the task force, potentially through a similar replacement of the committee members as seen with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), (see previous COSSA coverage).

Earlier this year, COSSA signed onto a letter led by the Friends of the Agency on Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) urging Congress to protect the integrity of USPSTF. In the Senate, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Angus King (I-ME) have introduced a resolution to this end, however, it has yet to gain any momentum. In the meantime, the cancellation of the USPSTF’s meetings hinders the task force’s ability to make evidence-based recommendations to healthcare providers, policymakers, and insurance companies that rely on them to make well-informed decisions and provide necessary coverage.

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage on the federal government.

Nominate your colleagues, collaborators, and role models for a Golden Goose Award!

The Award honors federally funded researchers whose work may sound odd or obscure, but ultimately had a major positive impact on society. The purpose of the Award is to demonstrate the human and/or economic benefits of federally funded scientific research. It’s intended to demonstrate that scientific outcomes build upon each other and that the technological advances that flow from them cannot easily be predicted at the outset of a particular scientific research project.

Nominations for the 2026 Golden Goose Awards are being accepted through December 12, 2025. More information and the nomination form can be found here.

The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), a COSSA governing member, is now accepting applications for its 2026-2027 Policy Fellowship. The fellowship provides the opportunity for post-doctoral experts in child development to work in Congress or a state agency for a 1–2-year time period. Fellows will receive a competitive stipend and be granted access to professional networking opportunities and resources. SRCD is currently looking for applicants who have earned a doctoral-level degree, are SRCD members, and have experience working in child development.

The application process involves a written section, an interview, and subsequent matching (for Congressional placement). Interested applicants can apply here. The deadline is January 6, 2026.

This article was contributed by COSSA Intern Anne Tighe.

On November 19, the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), a COSSA governing member, will host the next installment of their analysis of general election polls during presidential elections, Performance of Pre-Election Polling in 2024. The webinar will examine AAPOR’s newly released report, Pre-Election Polling Task Force Report, which evaluates the accuracy of general election polls during the 2024 election cycle.

Registration for the webinar can be found here.

This article was contributed by COSSA Intern Anne Tighe.