By Doni BloomfieldJuly 21, 2026
Bloomfield is an associate professor at Fordham University School of Law and a Greenwall faculty scholar.
The Trump administration is centralizing and politicizing science grantmaking to an unprecedented degree. Most recently, the Office of Management and Budget proposed a rule to require political appointees to review grants and ensure the projects they fund “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities” and do not “facilitate” any “initiatives that … promote anti-American values.” If the new rule takes effect, the government will be able to terminate a grant if it no longer “effectuate[s] … the national interest” — in other words, if it’s no longer to the president’s liking.
The comment period on the proposed rule ended July 13. Before it can take effect, the OMB must still finalize the rule, which the agency aims to do by the end of August.
Much of the coverage of the proposed rule has focused on the ways that turning grantmaking into a political procedure is likely to dull meritocracy, weaken freedom of inquiry, and push talented scientists to leave basic research — and, for some, to leave the United States altogether.
