Fed Update: COGR News Digest

Council on Governmental Relations (COGR)

1/29/26Inside Higher Ed

  Florida Moves Toward Banning H-1B Visa Hires

University system leaders say they need to pause hiring on the visas for a year to collect information about how universities utilize the program. Only the student and faculty board representatives objected.

1/29/26AIP, COGR Mention

  Science Community Weighs in on Federal Plans to Accelerate US Innovation

OSTP has not made the responses to its RFI publicly available, but some respondents have published their responses through their own channels. Of these, some responses reviewed by FYI chose to focus on just a few questions, while others, including those from the  National Academies,    COGR,   and Georgetown University’s  Center for Security and Emerging Technology,   took a broad approach. Common themes across these responses included a desire to reduce regulatory barriers, harmonize research security standards, and encourage stronger collaboration between universities and industry partners…  Of the responses that tackled the use of AI in scientific research, many were broadly supportive of the technology’s potential, but some also urged caution. COGR, for example, encouraged research funding agencies to work together to set standards for how AI may or may not be used in preparing grant proposals and conducting research

1/29/26NPR

  Trump has sued universities for billions. Here's what the strategy tells us

Some universities paid the government millions of dollars; others paid nothing but agreed to policy or personnel changes. But a common theme has emerged over the past year: The administration is seeking to alter the culture at these powerful institutions, barring them, for instance, from supporting programs aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion.

1/29/26ABC News

  How NIH ending funding for human fetal tissue research could affect studies

Last week, the Trump administration  announced  it was banning the use of human fetal tissue from some abortions in federally funded medical research. …Scientists told ABC News that research using human fetal tissue has contributed to understanding diseases better, such as HIV and Ebola, and helped in the development of some vaccines and drugs

1/22/26GAO-26-107544

  Research Security: Agencies Should Assess Safeguards Against Discrimination

We identified five safeguards to help agencies avoid discrimination, but agencies varied in their use. Further, no agency had assessed the potential for discrimination in their research security processes. Our  recommendations  would make research security more transparent and have agencies assess their safeguards.

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