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Federal Funding to California, NIH Budget Justifications, Williams College

1.

This is a developing story, but it appears that the Administration may be gearing up to significantly cut federal funding across California. 

The SF Chronicle is reporting that the state is bracing for cuts related to the University of California and CSU systems.

White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai has stated that “no final decisions” have been made on potential California funding cuts. 

Governor Gavin Newsom posted a response to the CNN article on X.

The President posted last week that “large scale Federal Funding will be held back” if a 16 year old transgender highschooler was allowed to compete in the state championship track and field event. She competed, won several medals, and was embraced by her peers. 

At the moment, it is unclear what cause will be given if there are cuts or exactly what federal funds would be cut. 

2.

The NIH’s budget request to congress was released today.

Included are requests from each institute. The requests assume the consolidation of ICOs that has come up elsewhere. Under this proposal, NCATS and ARPA-H would move over to a new office (the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Innovation) within HHS.

There is a lot to sort through (there is a decent summary on Stat), but the request assumes a 15% cap on IDC rates and substantial decreases in the amount of funded proposals.

These budget requests are just that. Congress sets funding levels, not the executive branch. 

3.

A temporary restraining order (TRO) has been quickly granted to block the President’s Executive Order cutting off Harvard’s ability to sponsor visas for students and postdocs. This provides short term relief, but it is likely that University faces a long and difficult legal battle.

4.

Williams College has become the first institution in the United States to decline NSF and NIH grants because of the inclusion language that requires awardees to certify that they will not “promote or advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) … in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws.” I believe that the College has about 30 current awards between NSF and NIH.

5.

Fifteen science and patient-focused organizations sent NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya a letter today (PDF) calling for him to fulfill his promise that the NIH will spend all of its FY2025 budget. Dr. Bhattacharya will be testifying to the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday morning about the FY2026 budget.

6.

Earlier this week House Majority Leader Steve Scalise introduced legislation to rescind 9.4 billion dollars that have already been appropriated. These funds were originally intended for USAID and public broadcasting. The vote could come as early as next week, but if congress does not act in the next 45 days then the funds must be spent as originally intended.

Photo by me, 35mm

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Harvard and Columbia (Again), State of the Science, DOGE and Grant Reviews, Indiana, Johns Hopkins

1.

The President issued a presidential action this evening “to restrict the entry of foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States solely or principally to participate in a course of study at Harvard University”. Harvard was granted an injunction last week, blocking the Administration’s move to block the university’s ability to sponsor visas for students and postdocs. This circumvents that order.

2.

The Department of Education informed the accreditor of Columbia University  today that  the university “is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation”. The DE does not have the ability to remove a university’s accreditation, but the Administration has signaled that it wants to make substantial changes to the accreditation process.

3.

NIH issued a request for information yesterday, inviting feedback on an NIH artificial intelligence strategy.

4.

The New York Times has a piece today detailing the cuts to NIH grants. The piece uses data from NIH Reporter and the TAGGs list. So, if anything, the numbers cited may be underestimations.

5.

NASEM President Marcia McNutt gave a “State of the Science” speech yesterday, in which she outlined her opinion of what would be needed for the United States to maintain its leadership position in science. Ars Technica has a summary.

6.

Meanwhile, Science has another piece about downsizing within the National Academies as a result of funding cuts and the current political environment.

8.

A Washington Post piece published on Monday about the Department of Government Efficiency includes reporting on how grant reviews are working at NIH. Per the article:

Every proposal is now fed through an AI to screen for references to “unpalatable” concepts (e.g. DEI, China, vaccine hesitancy, LGBTQ+ health) 

Every proposal is checked to ensure that recipients are not affiliated with universities that are currently in a dispute with the government (e.g. Columbia, Harvard, etc).

9.

The Governor of Indiana, Mike Braun, fired the elected trustees of the University of Indiana this morning. 

The Governor’s ability to do this arises from a recently passed state budget bill that included a number of provisions related to higher education in the state – including requirements for post-tenure “productivity” review. 

The budget bill is only the latest in a series of issues between the Indiana state government and the university, including the state’s passage of “Intellectual Diversity” law and an ongoing controversy related to the university’s relationship with the Kinsey Institute.

10.

Johns Hopkins has implemented a hiring freeze and other measures in response to current and future financial constraints. Johns Hopkins is the largest employer in the state of Maryland.

11.

The Administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to lift a federal judge’s order which halted mass layoffs and reorganizations across the federal government. The Court’s term ends in July, so we can expect a lot of decisions to come out in the coming weeks. 

Photo by me, taken with my charming little Camp Snap.

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Student Visas, Presidential Budgets, Formatting Errors, and Massive Lawsuits

1.

The State Department announced late Wednesday that it will begin to “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students in the United States.

Details are scant at the moment, by the revocations include “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

Future visa applications from China and Hong Kong will also undergo increased scrutiny.

According the NYT, about 20% of student visas are granted to individuals from China.

2.

Several federal agencies released their Presidential budget requests today, including HHS and NSF. The requests reflect Administration priorities.

Details about the budgets of specific operating divisions (such as NIH) are still forthcoming, but the HHS request mirrors the cuts and restructuring that were described in the draft leaked late last month.

These are just proposals. Congress, not the President or the Federal Agencies sets budget levels. For example, in 2017, the Administration proposed a 22% cut in funding to NIH. Congress eventually appropriated a 9% increase.

Personally, I have had a difficult time getting my head around this budget process. If you are like me, here is a nice primer from AAAS.

3.

Harvard was granted an injunction yesterday morning against the Department of Homeland Security’s move to block their ability to host international students and postdocs.

DHS has now served Harvard with a formal notice that they have 30 days to comply with the law or their SEVP certification will be withdrawn again.

In parallel, the State Department is currently reviewing ALL visas held by individuals affiliated with Harvard.

According to this report from Politico, the Administration is looking for more ways to take action against the university.  

4.

A DOJ official stated on Tuesday that the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism intends to file “massive lawsuits” against the University of California in addition to other institutions “on the East Coast, on the West Coast, in the Midwest.”

No timeline or specifics about which universities would be subject to these lawsuits were given.

In March, the Department of Education opened investigations into 60 universities (including Stanford) related to charges of antisemitic discrimination.

5.

The Make America Healthy Again Report  appears to include citations to several nonexistent research papers.  White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated yesterday that the report has some “formatting issues” that do not affect its substance.

6.

Yesterday, the Office of Personnel Management sent leaders of federal agencies a list of HR-related best practices that they must adopt. Among these are to cease using or collecting statistics about “underrepresented” groups and an emphasis on recruiting “the most capable and patriotic Americans”.

Photo by me, taken in 35mm

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Student Visas, RFK Jr on a Podcast, NSF Lawsuit

1.

U.S. embassies have been ordered to pause scheduling interviews with student visa applicants.

NPR is reporting that is the pause is intended to be temporary and does not apply to applicants who already have scheduled interviews.

The reason given for the pause is that the State Department is working to expand social media vetting for applicants. What this vetting will entail and when the scheduling of interviews will restart are currently unclear.

2.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted today that "The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields." A brief statement put out by the State Department stated that the revocations will be aggressive.

3.

The attorneys general of 16 states filed a lawsuit today, arguing that some of the federal government’s attempts to cut programs and funding at the National Science Foundation are illegal.

4.

HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr stated on a podcast yesterday that he would block NIH scientists from publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The Lancet “unless those journals change dramatically”.

These comments came as part of a ranging critique about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the scientific research enterprise. 

Here are the comments in context.

5.

Harvard filed for a permanent injunction today to extend the restraining order that blocks the Department of Homeland Security from stripping the university of its ability to host international students and postdocs.  Meanwhile, the federal government is looking to cancel the last of its contracts with Harvard, amounting to about 100 million dollars.

6.

Several stories are developing related to public universities across the country.

Outside of the Health Sciences, UNC Chapel Hill has not granted tenure since January. 

Inside Higher Education has a piece on the significant actions  the state legislature  has taken  related to public colleges and universities in Utah. 

7.

Both Science and Nature have pieces on Friday’s “Gold Standard Science” executive order.

Photo by me, taken with my handy Camp Snap.

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Gold Standard Science, Updates from Harvard and Columbia, Reorganization at NASEM

1.

The President signed several executive orders today. The most relevant for our purposes is Restoring Gold Standard Science. There is A LOT to unpack here, including:

Undoing any changes to federal scientific integrity policies made during that last administration

Undoing any actions taken pursuant to the last Administration’s EO “Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking”

Guidelines for how agency employees should communicate information underlying influential research findings.

2.

For the moment, Harvard University retains its ability to enroll international students and recruit international postdocs. Harvard filed a lawsuit this morning and a temporary restraining order is now in place blocking the Department of Homeland Security’s revocation of Harvard’s certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

3.

HHS announced today that it has found Columbia University to be in violation of Title VI, citing  “deliberate indifference” towards addressing antisemitism on campus. The announcement does not include any new action against the university.

4.

The comment period for the implementation of Schedule F has been extended to June 7th. Stat has a piece today about what it would mean for employees at NIH, NSF, and other agencies to be become de facto political appointees.

5.

NSF has begun publicly releasing the list of awards it has terminated (a CSV file can be found on this page). Grant Watch is tracking terminations and reinstatements of both NIH and NSF awards.

5.

The National Academies are facing a major reorganization amid federal funding cuts.

6.

It looks like Senate Republicans have set the fourth of July as their informal deadline to pass the budget bill.

Image by me, taken with my trusty Camp Snap.

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May 22, 2025 | Taxes, International Students at Harvard, MAHA Report

1.

The House passed the Republican tax bill by a 215-214 margin early this morning. The bill is now in the Senate, where it is expected to undergo substantial revisions (the text of the current version of the bill can be found here).

The bill is quite sprawling, but currently includes the tax on university endowments, the end of the Grad PLUS loan program widely used by medical and law students, substantial reductions and changes to Medicaid (including a ban on gender-affirming care that was expanded overnight), and much more.

If a version of the bill passes the Senate, funding levels for specific agencies (e.g. NIH, NSF) will be set during the appropriations process - which would extend throughout the summer.

2.

The Department of Homeland Security has revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. DHS has stated that all international students currently enrolled at Harvard must transfer or risk losing their legal status.

3.

The Make America Healthy Again Commission released its first report today. Framed as a “diagnosis”, another report outlining the “treatment” will be released over the summer. Today’s report points to the following as the causes of a “chronic disease crisis”.

Poor diet (i.e. ultra processed food)

Exposure to environmental chemicals (i.e. PFAS, microplastics, fluoride, electromagnetic radiation,etc)

Chronic stress and lack of exercise

Overmedicalization (i.e. expansion of the vaccine schedule among other things)

4.

A federal judge has blocked the firing of thousands of employees at the Department of Education. The DE has immediately appealed the decision. The Education Secretary gave a heated testimony to congress yesterday about the Administration’s plan to dismantle the department.

Image from: Orra White Hitchcock

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May 21, 2025 | New NSF terms and conditions, endowment taxes, Schedule F, GDPR, and more

1.

Congress began working on the “One Big Beautiful Bill” at 1am this morning and heated negotiations have continued throughout the day. The plan is still – seemingly - to hold a floor vote late tonight or tomorrow, but nothing is scheduled as of 6pm pacific time.

2.

The terms and conditions for NSF awards now (As of 5/19) include language stating that the agency can terminate awards if the recipient “operates any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws”. Similar language was added to NIH awards last month.

3.

The New York Times has a piece on the proposed tax on university endowments. Under this proposal, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, and others would reportedly be included in the highest bracket (a 21% tax on income from the endowment up from 1.4%).

4.

Another lawsuit has been filed against NIH and HHS over cancellation of funding for work focused on LGTBQ+ communities. Among the claims are that the cuts violate the fifth amendment. This suit parallels one filed last month by group of researchers (joined by the ACLU and several others) which seeks to block cuts to grants related to DEI, gender identity, and other topics.

5.

Also in NIH news, Science has a piece on Monday’s town hall. Some video has appeared on social media/blogs, but I believe the meeting was internal only. Nature also has a piece on the role of the Department of Government Efficiency in NIH grantmaking. 

6.

The public comment period for the Administration’s implementation of  Schedule F  ends on Friday. Under this rule, policy-influencing roles in government agencies (including ICO directors at NIH) will become at-will employees. Critics of this move have stated that, because of the loss of civil service protections, these positions would subsequently become de facto political appointees.

7.

An additional 60 million dollars in HHS grants to Harvard University have been terminated. The latest round of cuts are awards from the CDC. The NYT published a piece this morning about the effects of all the cuts at the Chan School of Public Health.

8.

The European Commission reopened the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the first time today. The proposed amendments are relatively minor and apply mostly to small businesses, but critics have argued that further amendments (and a decreased focus on accountability) are coming.

Image from: Specimens of the plants and fruits of the island of Cuba. (1826) by Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft.

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RFK Jr on Capital Hill, NSF, a Prestigious Midwestern University

1.

HHS Director RFK Jr gave testimony to both the senate and congress today.

At a hearings held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Congressional Appropriations Committee, he clashed with Democrats over his stance on vaccination and restructuring of federal health agencies.

Prior to the hearing, the HELP Committee released a report which states that more than $2.7billion in NIH funds to research were terminated from January to March of this year.

2.

Politico today published an interview with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya that was conducted on Monday.

3.

Science has the most comprehensive reporting I’ve seen thus far about the changes at NSF.

In addition to a radical reduction in the agency’s size, it appears that agency’s focus will be narrowed as well – to artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology, nuclear energy, and translational science.

Alondra Nelson, formerly of OSTP, has an editorial in Time about her resignation from the NSF (and LOC) advisory board.

5.

An additional $450 million in federal grants to Harvard were terminated yesterday.

6.

HHS has opened a civil rights investigation into a “prestigious midwestern university” over its alleged discrimination against Jewish students. Local news is reporting that the university in question is Northwestern.

7.

The SF Standard has a piece on CZI’s shift towards primarily funding biomedical research. There is some interesting insight here about how current events are affecting private funders.

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Big Beautiful Budget Cuts, EEOC, Terms and Conditions, Copyright

1.

Last night the Energy and Commerce Committee released their portion of the bill, which proposes deep cuts to Medicaid. The House will begin the process of debating/amending/etc tomorrow before it can be passed to the senate. It appears that the internal timeline for the GOP budget reconciliation bill is somewhere around Memorial Day, so we can expect LOT of news on this over the next two weeks.

2.

Politico and Bloomburg have information about the tax increase on university endowments that may be part of the budget bill. Under this proposal, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, and Harvard may face a 10% to 21% tax on earnings from their endowments. The current rate is 1.4% and there are multiple proposals on the table at the moment.

3.

Harvard has responded to Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s letter, in which she stated that the University would no longer receive federal grants. In a three page letter President Alan Garber reiterated that Harvard will not concede to the government’s demands but also pointed to “common ground”. The Wall Street Journal today reported that the EEOC has opened an investigation into Harvard for discriminating against white, Asian, male, and heterosexual workers in its hiring and promotion practices.

4.

According to a new piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education, at least two institutions have received notices ordering them to comply with the President’s gender identity-related executive order as per the new terms and conditions of their NIH funding.

5.

The administration has fired the head of the US Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter. According to the Washington Post, this may be due to the Copyright Office’s recent report that raised concern about the use of copyrighted materials in the training of AI systems. The Copyright Office resides within the Library of Congress, which was the site of a lockout today.

6.

Cuts for science cut us all

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RIFs on hold, radical NSF reorganization, Librarian of Congress

1.

A federal judge in SF has placed a two week hold on any ongoing reductions in force efforts across federal agencies.

2.

Science is reporting that a major reorganization is underway at NSF. This story is developing rapidly. This week marked the 75th anniversary of the agency's formation.

3.

Like it has with UC Berkeley and Harvard, the Department of Education has initiated an investigation in UPenn over foreign funding.

4.

Propublica has an article describing how the NIH has continued to cancel grants despite court orders. According to a recent article in JAMA, over 1.18 billion dollars worth of NIH grants have been cancelled thus far.

5.

The Trump administration has fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. According to the Press Secretary, Dr. Hayden was fired because of her DEI-related efforts and for placing “inappropriate books in the library for children.”. The Library of Congress does not loan books to children or direct activities at other libraries in the United States.

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No Cost Extensions, Consent Decrees, Autism Data, Surgeon General Nomination

1.

NIH temporarily disabled automatic no cost extensions. For now, all NCEs must go through the prior approval process. Requests for activities that “do not align with the NIH mission and agency priorities” will not be approved.

2.

Thirteen universities and several higher education groups have filed a lawsuit against the NSF about last week’s announcement that they will be capping their indirect cost rate at 15%. Similar reductions at NIH and DOE have been blocked by court order.

3.

Columbia University will be laying off 180 research staff who were funded by terminated grants. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the Trump administration has continued to press the university into signing a consent decree. This would place a judge in charge of making sure Columbia complies with the terms set during its negation with the government to reinstate funding. 

4.

Following a protest on Monday, the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced that it has initiated a review of the University of Washington. UW was the recipient of the most federal funds of any public university in 2023.

5.

NIH and CMS have announced a partnership to build a data platform that will bring together claims data, the electronic health record, and data from consumer wearables. 

Autism will be the initial focus of research using this platform, but eventually it will be used to study chronic conditions and other topics.

RFK Jr reiterated on Monday his support for creating a registry of individuals with autism. At the moment, it is not totally clear if such a registry would be related to this platform.

6.

Vinay Prasad has been appointed as the new head of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research. 

7.

Casey Means has been announced is the new nominee for Surgeon General after Janette Nesheiwat’s nomination was withdrawn

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Attorneys General, Harvard, and Health-related EOs

1.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit this morning in an attempt to block the reorganization of HHS. Specifically, the suit asks that a federal judge rule that the changes to the agency outlined in the March 27th memo be ruled as unconstitutional.

2.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon published a letter to Harvard on X today in which she stated that the University will no longer receive ANY federal grants.

3.

The President signed a pair of biomedical/health-relared executive orders today. The first, Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research, largely deals with restricting gain-of-function research. The second, Regulatory Relief to Promote Domestic Production of Critical Medicines, deals with reducing regulations related to the domestic production of the pharmaceuticals.

4.

The European Commission has just announced, “Choose Europe for Science”, a 500+ million  dollar initiative to attract scientists from the United States.

5.

Science published a brief and contentious (their description) interview with Jay Bhattacharya that was conducted the day before the president released his budget proposal.

6.

The Department of Education today released a “Dear Colleague” letter which, among other things, warned institutions that they could lose eligibility for federal student assistance if too many of their students default on their student loans. Forced collections of defaulted student loans was restarted today after a five year pause.

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Presidential Budget, NIH subawards, NSF cuts

1.

The President officially released his budget recommendations for the next fiscal year. The proposal is largely in line with what’s previously been reported (deep cuts to HHS, NSF, etc). The senate can (and often does) ignore these recommendations.

2.

As earlier reported by Nature , NIH announced that they will be implementing a new policy for subawards to foreign entities. Until this new structure is in place, NIH will not issue awards that include a subaward to a foreign entity (new, renewal or non-competing continuation).

The new structure appears to be as follows: Rather than such awards being nested under the prime award, the idea is that foreign sub awards will be independent but linked.

The target date for this new structure is by September 30th, 2025. 

3.

The NIH has also announced that it will be working to reduce the use of animals (and emphasize “human-based approaches”) in the research it funds. 

This will occur through a new office – The Office of Research Innovation, Validation, and Application (ORIVA), which will be within the Office of the Director.

NIH review staff will participate in training to address bias towards animal studies and will integrate experts in alternative methods into study sections. NIH will also publicly report on their progress towards reducing for animal studies.

4.

The NIH announced that their updated public access policy will go into effect in July rather than December. The major update is that there no longer will be an embargo for papers in PubMed Central.

5.

The NSF has paused the dispersal of all grants and indicated that they too will be moving towards a 15% IDC rate.

6.

The Senate Appropriations Committee met this week for a hearing entitled “Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation” (the video starts at around the 10 minute mark). Stat has a nice summary. No members of the administration spoke at the hearing, but there are plans for them to speak at an unscheduled future meeting.

7.

Science is people