OMB proposes rules giving political appointees control over federal research grants

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has released a more than 400-page proposal that would transfer authority over many federal research funding decisions from scientists to political appointees. The rule would apply to the roughly 40 percent of basic science research in the United States that the federal government funds.

It would also give the OMB power to rescind previously approved grants and limit international scientific collaboration.

Background on the proposal The draft rule would further restrict scientists’ ability to communicate findings and could bar research on topics the Trump administration has labeled “not in the national interest,” including studies on health disparities, mRNA-based vaccines, and work that does not treat biological sex as a strict binary.

The OMB has received more than 98,000 public comments on the proposal. The comment period ends July 13, after which the agency will decide whether to finalize, revise, or withdraw the rule.

Historical comparisons cited The proposal has drawn comparisons to earlier episodes in which political authorities directed scientific work. In the 1930s Soviet Union, agronomist Trofim Lysenko promoted farming methods based on a disproven theory of inheritance; those methods contributed to crop failures and famine that killed millions.

Geneticists who rejected Lysenko’s approach faced dismissal, imprisonment, or execution. The Soviet Union subsequently fell behind in genetics and molecular biology for decades.

U.S. agencies At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recent staff reductions and leadership changes have coincided with curtailed responses to measles outbreaks. At the National Institutes of Health, at least 110 funding announcements were canceled between January 2025 and May 2026, many related to infectious diseases, vaccines, or health disparities.