8/7/25: Trump signs order giving political appointees oversight of federal grants (The Hill) The order directs each agency head to designate a senior appointee who will be responsible for creating a process to review grant opportunity announcements and to ensure any grants awarded are “consistent with agency priorities and the national interest.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5441860-trump-signs-federal-grant-control-order/ Fact Sheet: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-stops-wasteful-grantmaking/
See also: Trump Puts Political Appointees in Charge of Federal Grant Decisions (Inside Higher Ed) https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/08/08/trump-political-appointees-charge-grant-decisions
See also: Trump signs executive order targeting spending on grants (Reuters) https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-signs-executive-order-targeting-spending-grants-2025-08-08/
Statement by COGR President Matt Owens on the Executive Order “Improving Federal Grantmaking: https://www.cogr.edu/statement-cogr-president-matt-owens-executive-order-%E2%80%9Cimproving-oversight-federal-grantmaking%E2%80%9D
8/7/25: Update: No-Cost Extension Functionality in eRA (NOT-OD-25-142) This notice provides an update on the guidance issued in NOT-OD-25-110 . Effective with the issuance of this Guide Notice, NIH has re-enabled the No-Cost Extension functionality within eRA Commons. Recipients may resume initiating first no-cost extensions in eRA Commons, in accordance with the NIH Grants Policy Statement, Section 8.1.1.3 . Requests that were previously submitted via the prior approval module will be reviewed, and recipients will need to initiate the first no cost extension within the Status module by using the Extension action. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-142.html
8/7/25: How Trump Forced Cuts at Wealthy Universities (Inside Higher Ed) Frozen research funding, rising endowment taxes and other concerns have prompted some of the nation’s wealthiest universities to shed jobs despite their multibillion-dollar endowments. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/cost-cutting/2025/08/07/how-trump-forced-cuts-wealthy-universities
8/7/25: How researcher visa curbs threaten science careers (Nature) Anti-immigration sentiment is fuelling a drive to slash international student and worker numbers, but at what cost to researchers and countries leading the charge? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02293-4
8/6/25: How Many Times Can Science Funding Be Canceled? (The Atlantic) If those funds are unspent, the NIH will be forced to return a massive sum to the Treasury—which several current and former NIH officials are afraid could be used to justify future budget cuts. The administration “is setting them up to fail,” the former official told me. In the United States, government agencies need Congress to fund them, but the executive branch still runs them. The Trump administration is no longer allowing the NIH to function as an agency that can handle a $47 billion budget. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/08/nih-funding-whiplash/683773/
8/6/25: UC says Trump’s grant suspensions at UCLA total $584 million, a ‘death knell’ for research (Los Angeles Times) The University of California president on Wednesday said Trump administration grant suspensions at UCLA total $584 million, cuts that would be a “death knell” to medical, science and energy research and have spurred negotiations with federal officials. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-08-06/ucla-584-million-trump-federal-grant-cuts-negotiations
See also: Trump Comes for Public Universities, With UCLA Now in His Sights (Wall Street Journal) Article Link
8/6/25 Update from USPTO:
USPTO bolsters secure access to agency systems via multifactor authentication
Beginning on November 1, 2025, as part of ongoing agency efforts to safeguard customer information and our IT systems, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will no longer offer email as an account verification method for a USPTO.gov account.
Customers instead will be directed to use another verification option, such as Okta Verify. Additional verification options are outlined on the New options for more secure authentication page of the USPTO website.
To avoid impacts to service, customers currently using email as a second verification method must set up an alternate mechanism by October 31, 2025. Users will still need to provide an email address when setting up a new USPTO.gov account.
For more information on USPTO.gov accounts, including how to create one, visit the Benefits of using a USPTO.gov account page of the USPTO website. For assistance, please call the USPTO Contact Center at 800-786-9199 or 571-272-1000.
https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-bolsters-secure-access-agency-systems-multifactor-authentication
