Trump Administration Proposes Changes to Federal Grant Regulations

The Trump administration released a sweeping proposal to overhaul the bedrock regulation for all federal grants. The changes would deemphasize the role of peer review in determining what work to fund, limit the ability of scientists to use federal funds to publish their research or travel to conferences, and offer political appointees more latitude to terminate grants at will.

Administration officials said the grant regulation changes are necessary to make government-funded science more transparent and to cut back on waste, fraud, and abuse.

Many in the scientific research community disagree, characterizing the changes as the White House attempting to usurp autonomy from scientists and career civil servants. The Trump administration has disregarded an extensive plan for addressing future disease outbreaks, including Ebola, that the Biden administration left behind when President Biden left office in January 2025.

Officials said their own game plan has led to a faster, more comprehensive response than any other country.

Three senior Biden officials — Maj. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, Raj Panjabi, and Stephanie Psaki — pointed to the administration’s intention to quarantine and treat American citizens in Kenya as a key deviation from earlier plans, which focused on bringing Americans home for treatment.

U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has been ensuring Ebola patients or people at risk do not set foot in the United States. During a press conference on Friday, CDC incident manager Satish Pillai said helping to contain the spread of Ebola at the source is the agency’s key priority.