Fed Update: COGR News Digest

Council on Governmental Relations (COGR)

8/15/25Inside Higher Ed

  Scientists: mRNA Vaccine Research Cuts Undermine U.S. Innovation

Scientists say HHS’s decision to stop investing in mRNA vaccine research is another sign of the growing politicization of research, which will stymie the country’s medical breakthroughs.

8/14/25The Assembly

  FAIR’ Model Aims to Preserve Federal Research Funding

While court orders have  paused the changes , the Trump administration’s proposal ignited debate about the current model.

8/14/25Science

  Beyond lab animals

Animal welfare concerns, shared by a rising fraction of the public, are not the only motivation. FDA said NAMs could accelerate drug evaluation and, eventually, lower research costs. EPA cited a need for better and more cost-effective ways to evaluate new chemicals. And although President Donald Trump’s administration has ignored scientific consensus in many areas, particularly vaccination policy and climate change, many in the scientific community call the move to NAMs a good idea, at least if the technologies are used to complement rather than replace animal studies. “I don’t see this as antiscientific or superradical,”

8/14/25NOT-OD-25-143

  NIH Will Stop Posting Notices of Funding Opportunities in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts in FY2026

This Notice informs the extramural community that, beginning in fiscal year 2026, NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide. Grants.gov will serve as NIH’s single official source for grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities. The NIH Guide will continue to be used for policy and informational notices

8/14/25Washington Post, Opinion

  U.S. scientists are seeing their research upended

The reality is  more troubling  than headlines might suggest. Since the start of the second Trump administration, I have heard from colleagues in the medical research community about their experiences. Many are afraid to speak openly but want the public to understand the effects of these policy decisions on the future of science. I am sharing some of their stories here, while respecting their wishes to omit details that would identify them

8/14/25Science, Editorial

  Scientists’ role in defending democracy

The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are witnessing  what happens to a nation’s science and technology enterprise  when  democratic principles  and the  rule of law  are ignored. 

8/14/25ExecutiveGov

  OSTP Principal Deputy Director Lynne Parker Announces Retirement

Lynne Parker  will  step down as principal deputy director  of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP. Parker announced her retirement on LinkedIn Tuesday.

8/14/25STAT

U.S. warning on use of ‘march-in’ rights against Harvard seems like distant threat for pharma

Lutnick signaled that the department would begin a “comprehensive” review of Harvard’s compliance with the law and, notably, initiate a “march-in” process, which allows the government to grant a third-party license to federally funded patents or take title and then grant licenses itself. His remark gained notice because the U.S. government has never taken this step before.

8/14/25JD Supra

  Bayh-Dole Compliance Under Scrutiny: HHS Adopts Aggressive Enforcement Stance

The Trump administration recently announced that it will begin investigating compliance with the Bayh-Dole Act, signaling it may invoke march-in rights or more dramatic request for title of patents relating to inventions developed under federal funding

8/14/25Wilson Sonsini

  Department of Commerce Initiates Bayh-Dole Compliance Review and Asserts March-In Proceeding Targeting Harvard University Patents

While the Department of Commerce’s actions are currently limited to Harvard, licensees or those having title to patents subject to Bayh-Dole should proactively review Bayh-Dole compliance across patent portfolios to mitigate risks.

8/14/25The Atlantic

  How States Could Throw University Science a Lifeline

Whatever halfway measures Congress or the courts may take to stop President Donald Trump’s assault on universities, they will not change the fact that a profound agreement has been broken: Since World War II, the U.S. government has funded basic research at universities, with the understanding that the discoveries and innovations that result would benefit the U.S. economy and military, as well as the health of the nation’s citizens. But under President Trump—who has already targeted more than  $3 billion  in research funding for termination and  hopes  to cut much more, while at the same time increasing the tax on endowments and threatening the ability of universities to enroll  international students —the federal government has become an unreliable and brutally  coercive  partner

8/13/25AP

  Harvard and the Trump administration are nearing a settlement including a $500 million payment

Harvard University  and the Trump administration are getting close to an agreement that would require the Ivy League university to pay $500 million to regain access to federal funding and to end investigations, according to a person familiar with the matter.

8/12/25The Chronicle

  Gender Data Would Be Off-Limits Under Proposed NIH Policy

The National Institutes of Health is moving to prohibit scientists from collecting data about gender, according to a draft policy obtained by The Chronicle, as part of President Trump’s order to end federal recognition of transgender people and others who identify as a gender that doesn’t align with their sex assigned at birth.

8/12/25Bloomberg Law

  DOGE’s AI Plan to Kill 100,000 Rules Has a Bark Bigger Than Bite

Artificial intelligence models aren’t yet sophisticated enough to implement a Trump administration plan to repeal as many as 100,000 government regulations, according to current and former government officials and scholars who study the intersection of law and AI.

8/11/25Arnold & Porter

  Executive Branch Oversight of Federal Grantmaking: A New Era?

This Advisory summarizes the EO’s key provisions, analyzes its departure from past federal grant practices, and outlines some strategic considerations for grant applicants and recipients.

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