Issue 6 (March 18)

On March 31, join COSSA for our next Headlines Webinar. We will continue to cover the latest Congressional news, President Trump’s Executive actions, the federal budget, and more.

The webinar will be taking place on March 31 at 1pm EST. Register here.

If you missed COSSA’s recent webinars, you can find the recordings below:

• January: 119th Congress & Trump 2.0: What Does it Mean for Us?
• February: Understanding the Latest White House and Congressional Actions

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

Social Science Advocacy Day is days away! This event is a must for everyone invested in the fate of federal funding for social and behavioral science research and who believe this research is vital to inform sound public policy. Now is the time to act.

Registration for COSSA’s annual Social Science Advocacy Day is open, but only for a few more days! You can register here.

If you can’t be with us this year, keep an eye on your inbox for ways to advocate from home.

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

On March 15, the President signed into law a full-year continuing resolution (CR) for fiscal year (FY) 2025 with only a few hours to spare before the previous CR, enacted in December, was scheduled to lapse (see previous COSSA coverage). The stopgap funding measure, which passed in the Republican-controlled House in a 217-213 vote and the Republican-controlled Senate in a 54-46 vote, is considered to be a “clean” CR, meaning funding levels will be kept at the FY 2024 level, with a few changes, until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. However, given the bare-bones nature of a CR, the bill is short on details and specific directives to individual agencies. Therefore, for many accounts, agencies will have the authority to decide how to allocate the FY 2025 appropriation. Given the current political environment and the Administration’s efforts to cut spending, especially to targeted areas (e.g., DEI), the full impact of the CR on social and behavioral science funding remains unclear. Further, the CR does not include language protecting science funding from potential intervention from the Administration, for which Democrats including Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) had strongly advocated. COSSA will provide additional details on the FY 2025 CR as they become available.

With the FY 2025 appropriations process finalized, Congress will be turning to FY 2026. As previously reported by COSSA, President Trump spoke before a joint session of Congress on March 4, which included a myriad of attacks on specific scientific research projects and included a call to dismantle the CHIPS and Science Act (see previous COSSA coverage). While rumors suggest that Congress remains supportive of the CHIPS and Science Act, funding for scientific research is likely to remain a point of contention as Congress begins the FY 2026 appropriations process. The President’s Budget Request (PBR) for FY 2026, which is often published following the State of the Union Address and indicates presidential priorities, has yet to be released by the Trump Administration.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage on the FY 2026 appropriations process.

On March 5, the House Science, Space, and Technology (SST) Committee’s Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing on Assessing the Threat to U.S. Funded Research. Witnesses included Mr. Jeffrey Stoff, President, Center for Research Security & Integrity; Mr. John F. Sargent Jr., Retired, Specialist in Science and Technology Policy, Congressional Research Service; and Dr. Maria Zuber, E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Presidential Advisor for Science and Technology Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In his opening remarks, Chairman Rich McCormick (R-GA) highlighted the importance of remaining a global leader in scientific research while protecting U.S. research from foreign competitors. While Ranking Member Emilia Sykes (D-OH) echoed the importance of research security, she emphasized the need for an open research environment and collaboration with partners both domestically and internationally. Further, she underscored the importance of protecting and maintaining the CHIPS and Science Act (see previous COSSA coverage and related article).

During her remarks, Congresswoman Luz Maria Rivas (D-CA) addressed the concern of funding cuts through executive actions, including the proposal to cap the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indirect costs at 15 percent, in which Dr. Maria Zuber underscored the detriment these cuts would have on scientific research at universities across the country (see previous COSSA coverage). Further, Dr. Zuber emphasized that indirect and direct costs are “both the cost of doing research” regardless of the category they are placed within.

A full recording of the hearing can be found here.

Trump Administration Actions (all actions available here):

• 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

COSSA continues to follow the flurry of 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.

Trump Eliminates Agencies

On March 14, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO), Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, which eliminates several agencies “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), among others. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is a federally funded, non-partisan thinktank that provides essential policy analysis and IMLS is a substantial provider of federal funding for libraries and museums, among other projects. The order determines these agencies to be “unnecessary” and comes as the Trump Administration seeks to eliminate the government “waste”. A fact sheet published by the Administration claims, “President Trump is returning power to local communities and state governments” through these recent actions. 

Federal Workforce

Two different U.S. District Judges ruled last week that federal agencies must offer to rehire probationary employees who have been terminated as part of the President’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce. The Administration is expected to appeal the decision, which creates ongoing uncertainty for thousands of federal employees. Democrats in Congress continue to express their concern over these layoffs and organizations within the scientific community are joining the legal fight. 

NIH Indirect Cost Policy

In February, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a notice announcing plans to cap indirect cost rates for grantees at 15 percent. The NIH research community responded in force, filing lawsuits, issuing statements, and sending letters to Congress. Within days temporary restraining orders were put in place and a hearing was scheduled in Federal District Court for later in the month.

On March 5, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelly ordered a nation-wide preliminary injunction which keeps the Administration from implementing the policy change while lawsuits continue.

Changing the way NIH pays for facilities and administration (F&A) costs has long been a topic of discussion among policymakers. As such, the topic is not likely to go away, regardless of the final outcome of current lawsuits. 

Share your Experience

Several organizations are collecting information on how recent executive actions and budget uncertainty have been affecting the research community. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is collecting responses to a survey, “Assessing the Impacts of Federal Policies on the U.S. STEMM Community.”

In addition, Democrats on the House Science Committee set up a resource for federal employees who may have been laid off to confidentially share their experience. Check out the ACT NOW! section of this newsletter for other ways you can help.

On March 13, the nomination of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya advanced through the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee in a 12-11 vote along party lines, overcoming the first hurdle for being confirmed as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director (see previous COSSA coverage). The next step is a confirmation vote by the full Senate, which has not yet been scheduled.

During his confirmation hearing on March 5, Bhattacharya stated an intent to refocus NIH’s research efforts on addressing chronic diseases, aligning with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, as well as investing in cutting edge research. HELP Committee Chair Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who released a white-paper on recommendations to improve the NIH last session, questioned Bhattacharya on the decline of vaccination rates across the country, seeking assurance that the NIH, under his leadership, would address this issue. In his response, Bhattacharya underscored the importance of data and research but declined to consider other methods of improving declining vaccination rates. Further, when pressed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) on the proposal to cap the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indirect costs at 15 percent, Bhattacharya confirmed he would follow the law if confirmed as NIH Director. Currently, the proposal is paused by the federal courts for violating federal law (see previous COSSA coverage). A full video of the hearing can be viewed here.

In other news, the Trump Administration’s nomination for Director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dave Weldon, was pulled the morning of his first confirmation hearing. Rumors suggest a lack of support for the nomination played a part in this decision. It is unclear who President Trump intends to nominate in Weldon’s place.  

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage on the new Administration.