Proposed new US funding rules: We can cancel any grant at any time
This is the end
Peer review now optional, political staff would screen grants for forbidden topics.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), during a television interview at the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, July 7, 2025. Credit: Getty | Al Drago
Last August, the Trump administration issued an executive order intended to fundamentally alter how grant funding is handled by the US government. Under the system that had made the US a scientific superpower, peer reviewers rated the scientific quality and feasibility of grant applications, and subject-matter experts within the funding agencies used these ratings to determine which grants got funded. Under the proposed rules, political appointees would have the final say, and they were specifically instructed not to “routinely defer” to peer reviewers.
In the interim, the administration has lost many court cases because it turns out that issuing executive orders doesn’t...
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