3/17/26The Chronicle
Why Is the NIH Abandoning Science?
For decades, the National Institutes of Health published between 650 and 850 Notices of Funding Opportunities each year. These announcements tell the research community which diseases need study, which populations are underserved, which scientific gaps need filling. They are how the NIH directs resources toward problems that won’t get solved by waiting for whatever grant applications happen to arrive.
3/17/26Science
White House lifts hold on NIH research spending
Biomedical researchers breathed a collective sigh of relief today after the White House loosened the purse strings that have hindered the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) from spending its 2026 budget on research grants.
3/17/26The Chronicle
State Policy Live Updates: States Advance Measures to Bolster Research Funding Amid Federal Cuts
The flurry of state support for higher-ed research continues, with California legislators offering bipartisan backing for a $23-billion bond that would mark the largest state-level investment in scientific research in U.S. history, Chemical & Engineering News reported .
3/17/26STAT
NIH grant awards are again lagging far behind historical averages, analysis shows
The last time Jay Bhattacharya testified before Congress, in early February, the biomedical research community watched optimistically as the National Institutes of Health director downplayed the impact of last fall’s government shutdown on the pace of grant funding. Coming on the heels of lawmakers passing an appropriations bill that pushed back on the most drastic changes to the agency proposed by the Trump administration, scientists were hopeful that 2026 would treat them better than 2025.
Science
3/16/26 Analysis: Why the research money isn’t flowing from NSF and NIH
Most scientists assumed grant money would start to flow soon after federal research agencies received their annual appropriation from Congress in late January. But in fact, under President Donald Trump, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is using what has historically been a routine process for releasing funds to slow things down. That has prompted fears that key research agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) might end up spending much less this year than the amount they received from Congress.