9/12/25: BGOV OnPoint: Shutdown Risk Remains as Lawmakers Debate Stopgap (Bloomberg Law) Lawmakers are eyeing a continuing resolution to start the fiscal year that would extend current funding levels and avert a government shutdown, but they have yet to nail down the details. Appropriators are aiming for a short-term resolution to fund the government into November, bucking a White House proposal to keep funding steady through Jan. 31. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, says they will block stopgap funding unless Republican members agree to extend expiring Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/bgov-onpoint-shutdown-risk-remains-as-lawmakers-debate-stopgap?context=search&index=2
9/12/25: Harvard Is Told Research Money Could Flow Again, for Now (New York Times) The government’s decision to restore the funding appeared to be a response to the judge’s ruling, and not a broader shift in its stance toward Harvard. The administration has said it would appeal the judge’s decision and maintain its pressure campaign against the university. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/us/harvard-research-funding-trump.html
9/12/25: Lutnick: Trump Wants Harvard to Build Vocational School as Part of Settlement (Inside Higher Ed) While no deal with Harvard has materialized yet, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday that if one does, the $500 million could go toward vocational education. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/09/12/lutnick-trump-wants-harvard-build-vocational-school#
See also : Watch the full Howard Lutnick interview on “The Axios Show” (Axois) https://www.axios.com/2025/09/12/howard-lutnick-full-interview-axios-show
See also: Trump administration wants cut of universities’ patent revenue: Lutnick (The Hill) https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/5495744-trump-administration-university-patents/
9/12/25: OMB Seeks to Revise the Small Business Act – Another Shot at the Rule of Two (JD Supra) Concerns are mounting that the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul will eliminate the regulatory “Rule of Two” found in FAR Part 19. Now, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is going further—seeking to narrow the reach of the statutory Rule of Two by revising the Small Business Act. Specifically, OMB wants to change the requirement from applying to purchases “below the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT)” to applying only to purchases below “$250,000.” At the same time, OMB proposes raising the SAT to $10 Million by 2030. The combined effect would severely curtail the Rule of Two and diminish contracting opportunities for small business contractors . https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/omb-seeks-to-revise-the-small-business-2641822/
9/11/25: OMB Board Seeks to Streamline Accounting Requirements for Contractors (ExecutiveGov) Under the rules proposed by the CAS Board within the OMB Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the U.S. government will now rely on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, to protect its interests. The government expects the deregulatory actions in the CAS Board’s rulemaking to result in fewer processes and records that federal contractors must maintain and lead to reduced government oversight activities as required by CAS requirements. According to a document posted for public inspection, the final rule requires the CAS Board to ensure that cost accounting standards used by federal contractors rely on commercial standards and accounting systems and practices and conform CAS requirements to GAAP. https://www.executivegov.com/articles/omb-cas-board-accounting-requirements-contractors
See also: White House OMB Board Proposes Elimination of Dozens of Unnecessary and Redundant Accounting Requirements on Federal Contractors (White House) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/09/white-house-omb-board-proposes-elimination-of-dozens-of-unnecessary-and-redundant-accounting-requirements-on-federal-contractors/
9/11/25: Joint Institutes, Divided Loyalties (House Select Committee on CCP) How the Chinese Communist Party Exploits U.S. University Partnerships to Empower China’s Military and Repression. https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/reports/joint-institutes-divided-loyalties
See also: In New Report, Walberg and Moolenar Identify More University Partnerships Threatening National Security (House Committee on Education & Workforce)
https://edworkforce.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=412740
9/11/25: Implementation of NIH Research Security Policies (NOT-OD-25-154) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to supporting the research community in safeguarding U.S. science and engineering through clear, actionable research security policies. In alignment with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-167),National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33), and the July 29, 2024 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum on Guidelines for Research Security Programs at Covered Institutions , NIH is establishing a series of requirements to strengthen transparency and accountability across NIH funded projects. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-154.html
9/11/25: Trump’s NSF wins early legal dispute over canceled grants (E&E News) A federal judge rejected a bid Wednesday by physics educators and others to freeze the National Science Foundation’s mass cancellation of grants involving topics that the Trump administration disfavors such as diversity and climate change. In an important but not definitive early-round legal defeat for the American Association of Physics Teachers and its allies, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb declined to issue a preliminary injunction that would have temporarily stopped the NSF from proceeding with the grant cancellations. https://www.eenews.net/articles/trumps-nsf-wins-early-legal-dispute-over-canceled-grants/
See also: Federal judge declines to restore $1B in grants cut by NSF (Higher Ed Dive) https://www.highereddive.com/news/federal-judge-declines-to-restore-1b-in-grants-cut-by-nsf/759958/
9/11/25: NIH kicks off yearlong effort to modernize biosafety policies (Science) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) this week announced a yearlong effort to update its policies governing biological safety in research. The Biosafety Modernization Initiative, designed to expand on and improve guidelines the agency has relied on for nearly half a century, will begin this fall with a series of regional listening sessions. A draft policy, set to be published in winter or spring, will then be open to public comment. https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-kicks-yearlong-effort-modernize-biosafety-policies
9/11/25: Unburden American science (Science, Editorial, COGR Mention) Science is one of the greatest engines of health, prosperity, and security across the world. Yet, in the United States, the enterprise is now under tremendous stress from an array of pressures, including threats to federal support for both the direct and indirect costs of research. But funding instability is not the only issue. One major problem is that regulatory and policy requirements force researchers to spend nearly half of their research time on paperwork associated with receiving federal grants and contracts, not on discovery. The situation is made worse when research institutions themselves layer on additional requirements to ensure compliance. The administrative tasks are unnecessarily complex, duplicative, and, in some cases, contradictory. They also waste taxpayer dollars intended for scientific discovery and innovation. Given the current political focus on streamlining federal regulations, there is a clear opportunity to finally solve this burdensome problem. https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.aec0488
9/11/25: NIH Cuts Mean Job Losses in College Towns (Inside Higher Ed) New report from the Brookings Institution shows that National Institutes of Health funding increases can boost labor markets in college towns. But if Trump’s proposed budget cuts takes effect, some will lose thousands of jobs. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/09/11/nih-cuts-mean-job-losses-college-towns
9/10/25: Trump administration cuts grants for minority-serving colleges, declaring them unconstitutional (AP) The Trump administration is ending several grant programs reserved for colleges that have large numbers of minority students , saying they amount to illegal discrimination by tying federal money to racial quotas.
In a shift upending decades of precedent, the Education Department said Wednesday it now believes it’s unconstitutional to award federal grants using eligibility requirements based on racial or ethnic enrollment levels. The agency said it’s holding back a total of $350 million in grants budgeted for this year and called on Congress to “reenvision” the programs for future years. https://apnews.com/article/hispanic-serving-institutions-university-grants-minority-4c4d2242373c0a974bcf65b24875cc7d
9/10/25: PF 2025-58 Class Deviation to Adopt Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) Part 9 – Contractor Qualifications (DOE Policy Flash) The DOE class deviation, OMB Memorandum M-25-26, Overhauling the Federal Acquisition Regulation, FAR Council Memorandum titled Deviation Guidance to Support the Overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and RFO Parts 9 and 52 Model Deviation Text are attached. The FAR Council’s RFO Part 9 model deviation texts are also available at Acquisition.gov, under the FAR Overhaul link. https://www.energy.gov/management/pf-2025-58-class-deviation-adopt-revolutionary-far-overhaul-rfo-part-9-contractor
9/10/25: Cruz to introduce proposal for regulatory AI sandbox program within OSTP (FedScoop) Regulatory sandboxes were among the recommendations from Trump’s AI Action Plan, and OSTP’s Michael Kratsios voiced support for the concept at a Wednesday hearing. https://fedscoop.com/cruz-introduce-proposal-regulatory-ai-sandbox-program-within-ostp/
9/9/25: Conservative Groups Warn Against Value-Based “Patent Tax” (Law 360) More than three dozen conservative groups Tuesday urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to refrain from considering charging patent owners a novel “patent tax” based on the value of their patents, warning that such a levy would harm innovation in the U.S., especially for emerging technologies. https://www.law360.com/articles/2386250
See also: Conservatives Appeal to Lutnick’s Inventor Roots in Urging Him to Drop ‘Patent Tax’ Proposal (IP Watchdog) https://ipwatchdog.com/2025/09/10/conservatives-appeal-lutnicks-inventor-roots-urging-drop-patent-tax-proposal/id=192085/
