2/24/25: Federal Judge Blocks Parts of Trump’s Anti-DEI Orders (Inside Higher Ed) The nationwide injunction, handed down Friday evening, blocks the administration from terminating “equity-related” grants or contracts and investigating universities with endowments worth more than $1 billion, among other provisions in two executive orders that targeted a range of programs, grants and contracts that the Trump administration considers “illegal” DEI. But the orders didn’t define DEI or what “equity-related” meant, which made it difficult for contractors or grant recipients to know how they could comply with the directives, plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/02/24/part-trumps-anti-dei-orders-blocked-now
2/21/25: Revealed: NIH research grants still frozen despite lawsuits challenging Trump order (Nature) Some legal scholars say this ‘backdoor’ approach to freezing funding is illegal. That’s because the US Constitution gives Congress, not the president or his team, the power to appropriate funds, says David Super, an administrative-law specialist at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC. Blocking “advisory-committee meetings that are legally required to make payments is no different in effect than simply refusing to sign contracts or issue checks”, he says. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00540-2
See also: NIH, States Battle Over Pause on Trump’s Cuts to Research Funds (Bloomberg Law) https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/nih-states-battle-over-pause-on-trumps-cuts-to-research-funds?context=search&index=27
See also: Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling (New York Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/science/nih-research-funding-delays.html?searchResultPosition=1
See also: NIH funding freeze stalls applications on $1.5 billion in medical research funds (NPR) https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/22/nx-s1-5305276/trump-nih-funding-freeze-medical-research
See also: UPDATE: NIH reimposes “DEI” funding freeze despite court order (Popular Information) https://popular.info/p/update-nih-reimposes-dei-funding
2/22/25: Scientists warn of long-term damage as Trump’s orders slow research (Washington Post) Biomedical research in America hasn’t been halted outright. But the Trump administration’s interference with the most routine operations of the world’s premier funder of that work has gummed up the system for selecting and funding new science projects. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025/02/22/trump-research-nih-federal-register/
2/21/25: Judge Extends Block on N.I.H. Medical Research Cuts (New York Times) A federal judge on Friday agreed to extend an order blocking the National Institutes of Health from reducing grant funding to institutions conducting medical and scientific research until she could come to a more lasting decision. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/judge-nih-medical-research-cuts-universities.html
See also: Judge Extends Pause on Trump Administration’s Controversial Cap on NIH Funding (The Chronicle) https://www.chronicle.com/article/judge-extends-pause-on-trump-administrations-controversial-cap-on-nih-funding
See also: Judge says ban on NIH cut to overhead payments stands—for the moment (Science) https://www.science.org/content/article/judge-says-ban-nih-cut-overhead-payments-stands-moment
2/21/25: ‘Time is running out’: Lawmakers scramble for a deal to stop a shutdown (Politico) Short of a major breakthrough in the coming days, Congress is staring down the barrel of yet another crisis over government funding. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/21/congress-shutdown-funding-trump-00205514
2/21/25: More NIH job cuts coming? Agency’s scientists already reeling after week of firings (Science) Already bruised by the first round of firings of federal workers by President Donald Trump’s administration, employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) faced more bad news. NIH’s 27 institute directors were told this week the agency must cut staffing back to 2019 levels, or at least 10% below its 2024 tally, according to two sources. All told, according to an authoritative NIH source, the biomedical agency has in recent days lost about 1200 employees, or just over 5% of its workforce of some 20,000 staff, as part of the firings of “probationary” employees with less than 1 or 2 years in their current position. They range from administrative staff who handle outside grants to NIH lab managers, staff scientists, and tenure-track investigators. The blows have left employees shaken and wondering about the future. https://www.science.org/content/article/more-nih-job-cuts-coming-agency-scientists-already-reeling-after-week-firings
2/21/25: I’m an NIH-funded researcher, drowning in uncertainty (Science) When I started on the tenure track, I knew securing external funding was crucial to my success. And for health equity research, my specialty, NIH is the obvious choice…. But now, I submit proposals into a system where even NIH officers don’t know what will happen next. Will my grants ever be reviewed? What can I research? https://www.science.org/content/article/i-m-nih-funded-researcher-drowning-uncertainty
See also: U.S. early-career researchers struggling amid chaos (Science) https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-early-career-researchers-struggling-amid-chaos
2/21/25: ‘Death by ax.’ Fate of millions of research animals at stake in NIH payments lawsuit (Science) Researchers who use tens of millions of rodents and thousands of nonhuman primates each year are especially dependent on these NIH “indirect cost” payments to support major animal research facilities, where complex housing, staffing, medical care, and regulatory oversight requirements push up costs. It’s not uncommon for large research universities, for example, to have “mouse houses” that support tens of thousands of rodents…. Although scientists using the animals must pay per diems out of their own grants for the use of the animals and the procedures they undergo, those payments don’t cover the cost of running the centers…. https://www.science.org/content/article/death-ax-nih-payments-lawsuit-could-determine-fate-millions-research-animals
2/21/25: NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders (FAQs Updated 2/21): https://www.nsf.gov/executive-orders
2/21/25: The Rise (and Fall?) of the National Science Foundation (The Chronicle) Under the Trump administration, the same system that boosted the United States to scientific dominance is being recklessly dismantled. In the past few weeks, the newly created Department of Government Efficiency has ordered the NSF to reduce its staff by 25-50 percent to meet strict new budget targets. They have already fired 168 workers . Even more alarming, the administration is considering slashing the NSF’s $9-billion budget to just $3-4 billion, jeopardizing funding for thousands of scientists and their research. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-national-science-foundation
2/21/25: Last time Congress saved science from Trump’s cuts. Don’t bet on it this time (Chemistry World) ‘It is a very, very different setup now,’ Zimmermann explains. ‘The big difference this time around is that the executive branch appears to have used “impoundment” to take the purse strings from Congress and we’ve seen a lot of noise from the top Democrats on the appropriations committees in the House and the Senate saying what’s the point of doing appropriations if they are no longer actually going to be enacted.’ This is the result of sweeping executive orders directing agencies to withhold funding provided by Congress and signed into law by President Trump, after taking office on 20 January. https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/last-time-congress-saved-science-from-trumps-cuts-dont-bet-on-it-this-time/4021029.article
2/20/25: Trump’s siege of science: how the first 30 days unfolded and what’s next (Nature) Acting with unprecedented speed, the administration has laid off thousands of employees at US science agencies and announced reforms to research-grant standards that could drastically reduce federal financial support for science. The cuts form part of a larger effort to radically reduce the government’s spending and downsize its workforce. Although US courts have intervened in some cases, Republicans in both chambers of the US Congress — which largely blocked Trump’s efforts to cut science funding during his first term as president from 2017 to 2021 — have mostly fallen in line with the agenda for Trump 2.0. For many researchers, this first month signals a realignment of priorities that could affect science and society for decades to come. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00525-1
2/19/25: Comer & Foxx Investigate Biden Administration’s Failure to Enforce Foreign Funding Reporting Requirements at American Universities (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Press Release) https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-foxx-investigate-biden-administrations-failure-to-enforce-foreign-funding-reporting-requirements-at-american-universities/
2/16/25: As Trump Targets Research, Scientists Share Grief and Resolve to Fight (New York Times) At a conference in Boston, the nation’s scientists commiserated and strategized as funding cuts and federal layoffs throw their world into turmoil. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/climate/trump-science-funding-cuts.html
2/13/25: $50K threshold for college foreign gift reporting passes House panel (Higher Ed Dive) The measure would lower the reporting floor from $250,000 and require a waiver for colleges to enter contracts with countries of concern like China and Russia. https://www.highereddive.com/news/50k-threshold-college-foreign-gift-reporting-passes-house-panel/740011/
