Science Policy This Week: June 29, 2026

What’s Ahead

One of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic bases. — NSF’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

NSF

NSF proposes grant policy updates based on OMB rule

The National Science Foundation is seeking comment on its plan to bring its grant policies into alignment with the sweeping rule proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget in late May, including by changing grant termination provisions, disallowing publication costs, and removing references to fixed-price awards. Regarding indirect costs, the draft adds that indirect cost rate recovery on NSF awards is always subject to the availability of funds, and that organizations may not be able to recover full indirect costs if sufficient award funding is not available. The draft includes additional provisions related to research security and removing requirements from rescinded Biden-era executive orders. The document is open for comment until Aug. 24, while the comment period for the OMB proposed rule closes July 13.

As the end of the fiscal year approaches, NSF has awarded far fewer grants and less funding compared to previous years, Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA) said at a House Science Committee hearing last week, citing data from Grant Witness. Whitesides suggested that grantmaking at NSF may have slowed because political appointees at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are now approving grant awards. NSF declined to comment on Whitesides’s remarks.

Republican senators call on DOE to block Chinese nationals from national labs

Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright last week advising the Department of Energy to block Chinese citizens from accessing its national labs, citing concerns about potential espionage and IP theft. In their letter, the senators questioned DOE’s current policies and said the thousands of Chinese nationals who visit or work at the labs “reflect severe vulnerabilities at our nation’s premier and most sensitive scientific environments.” Lee and Cotton previously wrote to Wright in January with similar concerns. The senators also introduced the Guarding American Technology from Exploitation Act last year to prevent citizens of multiple countries, including China, from accessing DOE’s national labs. Lee and Cotton said Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee are blocking the bill’s progress.

Pentagon report flags deterioration of defense research labs

A review of the military’s Research, Development, Test, & Evaluation (RDT&E) infrastructure, published by the Department of Defense last week, warns that aging facilities are eroding the U.S. military’s technical advantage. The report finds that money intended to support those facilities is routinely diverted to other DOD priorities. To solve this problem, the report recommends that Congress create a protected fund for research infrastructure that would receive nearly $4 billion over five years. The report also recommends raising the threshold for minor construction projects from $9 million to $20 million to reduce administrative burden and allow labs to complete projects more quickly. According to the report, the average DOD lab is over 45 years old, with limited funds for modernization and repair work, leading to technical limitations and potential safety concerns for researchers.

Also on our radar

NASA plans to launch a spacecraft to boost the altitude of the sinking Swift Observatory satellite as soon as Tuesday.
Former NOAA employees have created a clone of the website climate.gov, which hosted climate science data, reports, and more until the agency took it down last year.
The House Appropriations Committee approved its FY27 defense bill last week. The committee will now review the White House’s request for an extra $87.6 billion in defense funding for FY26, including $673 million for NNSA to prevent Iran from developing or acquiring a nuclear weapon.
The markup of the Senate appropriations bill covering NSF, NASA, and other science agencies, which was due to take place last week, was postponed again. The Senate is currently in recess and will not return until mid-July.
House Science Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) asked the Senate HELP Committee to hold a nomination hearing for Jim O’Neill to be director of NSF. NSF’s last Senate-confirmed director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, resigned in April 2025.
The House Science Committee advanced 10 bills on AI last week, including bills on the National AI Research Resource and on NSF awards for AI education.
GAO’s plans to assess federal science and technology efforts over the next two years include evaluating agency safeguards for research security and the status of implementing semiconductor manufacturing and research initiatives.
LineShine, a Chinese supercomputer at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, surpassed Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s El Capitan to take the top spot on the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

Thursday, July 2

No events.

Friday, July 3

No events.

Monday, July 6

National Academies: Committee on Radio Frequencies meeting
12:00 - 1:00 pm

National Academies: Assessment of technical and scientific capabilities at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, meeting three
1:00 - 3:00 pm

Opportunities

Deadlines indicated in parentheses. Newly added opportunities are marked with a diamond.

Job Openings

FIA: Fall intern (ongoing)
ACS: Congressional fellowship (ongoing)
APLU: Assistant vice president for governmental affairs (ongoing)
AIP: Director of science policy news (ongoing)
AAAS: Senior editor (July 3)
◆DOE: General attorney, National Energy Technology Laboratory (July 6)
◆ONR: Superintendent, Space Science Division (July 8)

Solicitations

◆Physics Today: Reader information survey (ongoing)
AAS: Nominations for 2027 AAS prizes (June 30)
NASA: RFC on addressing DEI discrimination by federal contractors (July 6)
NASA: RFC on NASA Front Door (July 6)
OMB: RFC on regulation for federal financial assistance (July 13)
NSF: RFC for the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Program (July 17)
NOAA: Call for nominations for the Ocean Exploration Advisory Board (July 17)
NIH: RFI on capping the number of simultaneous research project grants per principal investigator (Aug. 3)

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Do you have a story to tell about how science policy is impacting you?

AIP’s research team is gathering first-hand accounts from scientists, engineers, students, and staff whose careers have been affected by policy and funding changes over the past year. Volunteers can submit their stories via this online form. Participants’ stories will be added to the Niels Bohr Library & Archives digital repository as searchable, citable records — with options for anonymity and a five-year embargo period. Read more about the initiative here.

Around the Web

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