Fed Update: COGR News Digest

08/20/25US News & World Report, Commentary

America Leads in Science and Technology. If Trump Gets His Way, It Won’t For Much Longer.

Imagine a professional baseball team that staked its fortunes on U.S. talent only and ignored rising stars from around the world. You don’t have to be a sports fan to know this is a recipe for competitive mediocrity; nearly 40% of Major League Baseball MVPs over the past 20 years were foreign-born. Yet, that’s exactly what President Donald Trump is doing to America’s global leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by trying to prevent gifted international STEM students from coming to U.S. universities

8/20/25Nature

What counts as plagiarism? AI-generated papers pose new risks

The AI Scientist is an example of fully automated research in computer science. The tool uses a large language model (LLM) to generate ideas, writes and runs the code by itself, and then writes up the results as a research paper — clearly marked as AI-generated. It’s the start of an effort to have AI systems make their own research discoveries, says the team behind it

8/19/25The Atlantic

The Two-Word Phrase Unleashing Chaos at the NIH

At the National Institutes of Health, hundreds of research studies on health disparities and transgender health have been abruptly defunded ; clinical trials focused on improving women’s health have been forced to halt . Online data repositories that contain gender data have been placed under review . And top agency officials who vocally supported minority representation in research have been ousted from their jobs.

8/19/25Science

Facing ‘impossible’ workload, USDA struggles to oversee lab animal welfare

Employees terrified of being laid off. Shrinking resources combined with unprecedented workloads. The loss of a tool critical to enforcing its mission. Such conditions would strain any organization. But for an already overburdened division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for overseeing the welfare of nearly 800,000 lab animals, they could spell disaster.

8/19/25

Trump Wants Universities to Show Him the Money, or No Deal (New York Times) . https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/trump-universities-financial-penalties.html

President Trump has personally stipulated that hefty financial penalties be part of agreements his administration is negotiating with the elite universities. Critics call it extortion

8/19/25Federal News Network

In a warning from inside the NSF, staff say science itself is under threat

Nearly 150 employees at the National Science Foundation have sent a letter to Congress warning that deep staffing cuts, forced relocations, and political interference are threatening the agency’s mission and independence. One-third of NSF’s workforce is already gone, and senior executives are being pushed out.

8/18/25Politico

One thing Republicans agree on ahead of this fall’s funding fight

Vulnerable incumbents and deficit hard-liners are joining forces in an unlikely partnership, pushing House GOP leaders to put earmarks on the table to head off a government funding fight this fall. The federal coffers are due to dry up Sept. 30. And, as part of any agreement to avert a shutdown Oct. 1, a significant segment of the House Republican Conference is now demanding the inclusion of so-called community project funding. That’s the name Democrats gave their earmark rebrand in 2021 after Republicans banned a more permissive version of the practice for a decade

8/18/25National Law Review

Trump Administration Executive Order Requires Enhanced Oversight, Termination for Convenience Clauses in Federal Grant

On Aug. 7, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order, “ Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking ” (EO), which seeks to significantly increase oversight and scrutiny of discretionary grants, ensure that grant agreements permit agencies to terminate them if they “no longer effectuate[] program goals or agency priorities,” 2 CFR 200.340(a)(4), limit the availability of funding for indirect costs, and streamline the grant application process. The EO states it is intended to address the administration’s concerns about ineffective or inefficient uses of funds and past funding awarded for purposes that do not align with the current administration’s priorities.

8/15/25Science

NIH director orders new review of grants in outline of top research priorities

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jayanta “Jay” Bhattacharya today released a widely anticipated list of a dozen research priorities for his agency, spanning familiar topics ranging from autism to health disparities. But he sparked concern within and outside of NIH by ordering a new internal review of the agency’s entire funding portfolio. Some staff and others worry that effort will further delay NIH’s issuing of grant funding.

NIH StatementSee also