Comments Are Closed on OMB's Grantmaking Proposed Rule. Now What?

Last night, comments closed on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)'s proposed rule that would require political appointees to review federal grants and halt those that don't align with Trump administration objectives.

As of the 11:59 p.m. deadline, nearly 500,000 comments were submitted, many in response to campaigns from several science organizations that hoped to drown the agency with work to vet those comments in an effort to delay the rule. Only about 10% of those have been posted publicly.

As of July 9, of the 51,047 comments that were posted, 94% were opposed to the rule. That's according to an AI analysis tool developed by independent data engineer Abigail Haddad, and shared with MedPage Today by Chris Marcum, former OMB senior statistician and senior scientist.

The tool showed that 19,574 comments "expressed concern that the rule would be damaging to public health and medical research," Marcum told MedPage Today.

So what happens next?