Overview
- The Office of Management and Budget published a roughly 400-page proposal to amend the Uniform Guidance so that political appointees perform pre-award reviews and gain broader power to suspend or terminate grants.
- The public comment period closed with an unusually large response after July 13, producing roughly hundreds of thousands of submissions that federal dockets and multiple outlets report were overwhelmingly opposed to the rule.
- Major research universities, scientific societies, municipal leaders, nonprofits, and analysts warned the change would demote expert peer review, disrupt multi-year projects and clinical trials, and chill international research collaborations.
- OMB Director Russell Vought and the White House defended the move as ensuring grants advance the President’s priorities, and OMB signaled an October 1 effective date that would apply to fiscal year 2027 awards.
- Stakeholders expect swift legal and congressional challenges and warn of concrete effects on people who rely on grants, including researchers, patients in clinical studies, and cities that depend on predictable federal funding.