The proposal, which was more than 400 pages long and was published in the Federal Register Friday, by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) calls for the review of awards on several grounds, including whether they “demonstrably advance the President's policy priorities.”
The OMB frames the proposal, which follows an August 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump to oversight of grantmaking, as a means to increase transparency and ensure “American tax dollars are not wasted or misused.” It echoes statements that OMB director Russell Vought wrote in the Heritage Foundation’s conservative governance blueprint Project 2025, in which he envisioned the office as the “keeper of ‘commander’s intent.’”
More than $1 trillion a year is distributed for research grants as well as support for local governments and small businesses. But the latest proposal, which is in its public comment period until July 13 and which the White House budget office aims to implement by October, could threaten ongoing research and programs, including in sectors like science and health.
Researchers and scientists sounded the alarm about the proposal, saying that political appointees’ interference into which grants get approved could stymie the U.S. from leading in research and scientific development globally.
The OMB proposal also states that “peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion,” in an apparent departure from the post-World War II practice of funding approval traditionally being determined by apolitical experts who assess awards based on scientific merit.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D, Calif.), the ranking member on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, in a May 29 statement called the OMB proposal the “newest dystopian move” that would “destroy what remains of merit-based review dealing a crippling blow to science.” Lofgren added that the Trump Administration has spent its term so far “undermining merit-based decision-making at federal science agencies.”
Forcing ideological alignment
The Trump Administration has called for screening “anti-Americanism” in other policies, including anti-terrorism and immigration control. But rights groups have criticized the term as it may be discretionarily applied to a broad swath of activities and could be used to stifle freedoms.
According to the New York Times, in the weeks before the OMB proposal emerged, the White House appeared to foreshadow its plans, citing a May memo that it obtained that instructed federal agencies to inventory grants given to “certain nonprofit organizations.” Among the about four dozen organizations listed were the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Urban League, and other legal aid groups that conservatives have long criticized, the Times reported.
The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group, said Thursday in a social media response to the proposal that it would “strip government money from any program that acknowledges diversity, abortion, or even the existence of transgender and nonbinary people.”
“Withholding public grants from programs that depend on them because you refuse to acknowledge the humanity of certain communities is not good government,” the HRC statement added. “It’s fascism.”
Hence then, the article about how the trump administration plans to politicize federal grants was published today ( ) and is available on Time ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How the Trump Administration Plans to Politicize Federal Grants )
Also on site :