Trump Administration
Trump Administration
White House Proposes Sweeping Changes to Federal Grant Rules ā 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…
Battacharya Defends NIH Budget to Senate Appropriators
On May 21, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) defended the NIH fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request before the Senate Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee. During the hearing, Bhattacharya fielded concerns from both sides of the aisle about the Trump Administrationās proposed 12 percent cut to the agency (see analysis). In her opening remarks, Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) voiced her support for NIH-funded research, and highlighted the importance of cancer research and supporting rural communities. When remarks turned to Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the Senator pressed the Director…
š¦Ā SPOTLIGHT ON NSF: Scientific Community Fights for NSF
It has been a particularly challenging few months for the National Science Foundation (NSF), between a massive, proposed budget cut, removal of members of the National Science Board (NSB), and the proposal to eliminate the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE). The research community has spent much of the Spring pushing back and urging Congress to defend NSF. Saving the SBE Directorate COSSA along with our many partners across the STEM enterprise have been working tirelessly to urge Congress to reject the Presidentās proposal to eliminate the SBE Directorate in FY 2027. With House and Senate appropriators currently at work on their FY…
HHS Secretary Defends FY 2027 Budget before House Energy and Commerce Committee
On April 21, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the HHS fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which provides oversight to public health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Following his testimony to the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee the previous week, Secretary Kennedy again highlighted several priority areas for the Administration, including vaccine efficacy, agriculture and food safety, rural health, national security, and the cost of health insurance and medicine in the…
Trump Administration Fires National Science Board
On April 24, all 22 members of the National Science Board (NSB) received an email from the Trump Administration stating that they have been āterminated, effective immediately.ā The NSB, which was established by statute in 1950, serves as the policymaking and oversight body of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and as an independent advisor to the President and Congress on federal science policy. COSSA issued a statement on the dismissal. White House officials are stating that the decision responds to a 2021 Supreme Court case, U.S. v. Arthrex, that āraised constitutional questions about whether non-Senate confirmed appointees can exercise the authorities that Congress…
COSSA’s Save SBE Toolkit
As COSSA has been reporting, the National Science Foundationās (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) is currently at risk of being eliminated. The Trump Administrationās budget for fiscal year (FY) 2027 would zero out funding for SBE starting next fiscal year without providing notice or explanation to the research community. COSSA is working with friends across the scientific community to fight back. We have created a Save SBE webpage with resources you can use in your own efforts to defend SBE and promote the work of the social and behavioral sciences. The latest resource is the SBE Messaging Guide. This document was prepared for…
HHS Secretary Defends FY 2027 Budget to House Appropriations Subcommittee
On April 16, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the Presidentās fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request to the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee (LHHS). The hearing highlighted several priority areas for the Administration, including chronic disease, vaccine efficacy, agriculture and food safety, rural health, and cyber and national security. During his opening statement, Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) offered his support to the Administration and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative; however, he stated that it would be unlikely for the Administration and Congress to āagree on areas for reduction.ā He…
A Note from COSSA
Friends ā As Iām sure you have heard by now, the Trump Administration released its budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2027 last week, which seeks to boost military spending by more than 44 percent by slashing funding for domestic programs. Among the domestic accounts affected are federal science agencies for which, once again, the Administration has put forward budget proposals that would all but hand American science leadership to our global competitors. See the related article below for preliminary details about the budget request. There will always be budget proposals by unsupportive Administrations seeking to cut funding for things they donāt…
Trump Proposes Steep Cuts to Federal Funding in FY 2027 Budget Request
On April 3, the Trump Administration transmitted its fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request to Congress. Included in the budget request are significant cuts that would decimate the U.S. scientific enterprise, including a repeated proposal to slash the National Science Foundationās (NSF) budget by more than half (see NSFās budget proposal here). The Administration has also proposed eliminating funding for NSFās Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). Notably in previous appropriations bills, Congress has directed the agency to fully-fund the SBE directorate. The Administrationās proposal also repeats several provisions and reorganization proposals from the previous yearās request, including a proposal to…
Trump Announces New Members to PCAST
On March 25, President Trump announced his first appointments to the Presidentās Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the body of external advisors charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. In a departure to past PCASTs, the appointees include several private sector executives in the tech sphere, including returning members Lisa Su and Michael Dell who served in the Council during the Biden and Bush Administrations, respectively, in addition to Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison. Additional members are expected to be appointed at a later date. Notably, none of the appointees have…
Congress Begins FY 2027 Budget Hearings
While Congress continues to grapple with a lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and President Trumpās push to pass theĀ SAVE ActĀ (H.R. 22), Congressional appropriators have turned their attention to drafting fiscal year (FY) 2027 appropriations legislation. AsĀ previously reported, the House Appropriations Committee set deadlines for submitting funding requests for Members earlier this month. Following in the Houseās footsteps, the Senate Appropriations Committee released their guidance last week. Deadlines for each subcommitteeās requests can be foundĀ here. Congress has also been holding hearings on budget and policy priorities for various departments and agencies, including the National Institutes of…
House Appropriations Committee Holds NIH Oversight Hearing
On March 17, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with testimony from Director Jay Bhattacharya. The hearing comes after Bhattacharya testified in front of the Senate Health, Education, and Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in February (see previous coverage). Bhattacharya, who has also been serving as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Acting Director since February in addition to his role as NIH Director, fielded questions on a variety of topics, including the Trump Administrationās delays in grant distribution, indirect costs,…
US Science Funding Delayed Despite Congress Rejecting Cuts
According to reporting by Nature, federal science agencies continue to experience delays in receiving the okay to start spending their fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations from Congress. As previously reported, Congress completed its work on FY 2026 appropriations for most federal science agencies earlier this year. However, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been slow to approve agency spending plans, which are required to be delivered to OMB within 30 days of enactment of the appropriations bills. Traditionally, agencies had authority to start spending portions of their appropriations immediately and continuing in monthly increments until its spending plan…
Interim NSF Leadership Briefs NSB on Reorganization
The National Science Board (NSB), the governing and oversight body of the National Science Foundation (NSF), met on February 25. The agenda included a briefing on NSFās new āmanagement structure,ā presented by Brian Stone, who is performing the duties of the NSF Director, and Micah Cheatham, NSFās Chief Management Officer. The speakers discussed recent efforts to reduce the NSF workforce in response to White House guidance and executive orders on āoptimizing the federal workforce.ā In addition to reductions in force (RIFs) taken over the last year, NSFās efforts have focused on reducing the ratio of executives to non-executives within the workforce, adding non-executive supervisors,…
Department of Education Receives Recommendations to Reform IES
On February 27, Department of Education Senior Advisor Dr. Amber Northern delivered a report, Reimagining the Institute of Education Sciences, to Secretary Linda McMahon with recommendations on how to reform the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The report comes after Northern was appointed to the role in May in an effort to āmodernizeā the agency (see previous coverage). In September, the Department of Education also released a request for public comment on restructuring the agency, which reportedly influenced Northernās recommendations (see previous coverage). About the report, she said: āIES has set the standard for high-quality education research these last 25 years,…
Trump to Deliver State of the Union Address
As previously reported, President Trump is scheduled to give his State of the Union address later today amidst a partial government shutdown as Congressional lawmakers continue to negotiate the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bill with no end in sight. The State of the Union is expected to offer a preview into the Presidentās priorities for the year; however, full details are likely to emerge with the delayed release of the Presidential Budget Request. Itās currently unclear when the budget is set to be released. As with tradition, the Democratic Caucus will have the chance to…
Science Agency Leadership Shakeups Continue
The White House recently announced plans to nominate Jim OāNeill as the next Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), placing a longtime health policy official and private-sector investor at the helm of the nationās premier basic science funding agency. OāNeill most recently served as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (see previous coverage). Earlier in his career, OāNeill worked at the Department of Health and Human Services during the administration of George W. Bush. He later moved into the private sector, investing in emerging technologies, including through the Thiel Foundationās Breakout Labs program, which supports…
NIH Director Bhattacharya Testifies Before Congress on Modernizing the Agency
On February 3, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jayanta Bhattacharya appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to discussĀ Modernizing the National Institutes of Health: Faster Discoveries, More CuresĀ . During the hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Chairman of the Committee, expressed a bipartisan concern over the unprecedented NIH grant award cancellations in the last year, a lack of public trust in the NIH and science institutions, as well as national and personal health security risks. This hearingĀ comesĀ nearly two years since Cassidyās release of a white paper on recommendations to improve the NIH in 2024 (see previous…
Stuart Levenbach Quietly Assumes Role as U.S. Chief Statistician
According to the White House Office of Management and Budgetās (OMB) Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, Stuart Levenbach has been appointed to serve as Chair of the Council, a position that is, by law, held by the U.S. Chief Statistician. OMB quietly updated its website to reflect his new role, replacing Mark Calabria, who assumed the role of Chief Statistician after the departure of Karin Orvis at the start of the Trump Administrationās second term in 2025. Notably, the position does not require Senate confirmation. Previously, Levenbach had been nominated by the Trump Administration to serve as the head of the Consumer…
OPM Final Rule Expands Excepted Service, Raises Workforce Concerns
The White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has finalized a sweeping rule that expands the use of the excepted service by creating āSchedule Policy/Career,ā a new category covering career employees in policy-influencing roles (see previous coverage). While OPM frames the change as a way to improve accountability and responsiveness, critics warn it weakens long-standing civil service protections. Under the rule, career employees (e.g., nonpolitical appointees) whose roles are of a āconfidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating characterā may be reclassified into Schedule Policy/Career. They will retain competitive status but lose key procedural protections, including appeal rights for adverse actions and performance-based removals. OPM…