US budget office proposes sweeping overhaul of federal science grants
New rules from the Office of Management and Budget would allow agencies to cancel grants at will, ban funding for diversity initiatives and international collaborations with Chinese researchers, and restrict spending on publication and travel costs.
The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has initiated a formal rulemaking process to fundamentally restructure federal science grant funding, seeking to embed policy changes previously struck down by courts via executive order. The proposed rules would shift decision-making power from peer review panels to political appointees, citing "national interest" as the primary criterion for funding allocations. This move follows a series of legal defeats for the Trump administration, which had attempted to implement similar changes through executive orders that were vacated by the judiciary for lacking sufficient justification.
Under the new framework, peer review would become advisory rather than decisive. The OMB document explicitly states that peer review "does not replace agency discretion," instructing political staff not to "routinely defer" to scientific experts. This structural change allows agencies to cancel grants at any time based on vague assertions that a project no longer serves the national interest, removing the procedural safeguards that previously governed grant termination. The shift aims to replace expert-led evaluation with alignment to administration policies and priorities.
The proposed regulations introduce strict bans on funding related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, "gender ideology," and theories of disparate-impact liability. The OMB defines gender ideology as efforts to deny the biological reality of sex or the sex binary, effectively prohibiting research into human chromosomal disorders. The document also cites an editorial from the Heritage Foundation to justify the cancellation of the PEPFAR program, claiming it had been hijacked by "far-left activists" to promote abortion and gender ideology, despite the program's role in limiting HIV spread in Africa.
International collaboration faces significant restrictions under the new rules. The document suggests an outright ban on federal funding for collaborations involving Chinese researchers and mandates a "domestic-first framework" for other international partnerships. Additionally, agencies may consider an applicant’s affiliations with organisations engaged in activities that violate federal law, undermine public safety, or advocate for the overthrow of the US government, introducing a political litmus test for funding eligibility.
Administrative burdens would increase for researchers, with publication fees and conference travel costs now unallowable unless expressly required by statute or approved in advance by the federal agency on a case-by-case basis. The OMB claims these measures reduce recipient burden by eliminating DEI requirements, but critics argue the rules create staggering damage to the US scientific system by isolating researchers and subjecting grants to the whims of non-expert bureaucrats. Public comment on the proposed rule is now open.
