Senators to mull Trump’s proposed science cuts

Hearings this week may shed more light on whether Senate appropriators are open to the massive cuts to science agencies proposed in the Trump administration’s 2026 budget request. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will testify on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, on their agencies’ budget requests. Democrats have roundly condemned the proposed cuts, but a key question is how the Republican majorities on the Senate appropriations subcommittees react to them. Some Republican senators have criticized other research cuts carried out by the Trump administration, while others have gone out of their way to endorse them.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), chair of the DOE subcommittee that Wright will appear before, has defended the administration’s attempt to cap the National Institutes of Health’s indirect cost reimbursements for research grants at 15%. DOE implemented its own 15% cap on indirect research costs in April and extended it to additional types of awards in May. (The research caps at DOE and NIH have since been blocked in court.) At the same hearing in which Kennedy praised the NIH caps, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) criticized them as “arbitrary” and “poorly thought out.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), chair of the HHS appropriations subcommittee before which RFK Jr. will testify, has praised the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts to a range of federal programs but has also criticized cuts to two federally funded research operations in her state: DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

NSF pauses RIFs, expands scope of grant terminations

The National Science Foundation has paused reductions in force (RIFs) and restructuring moves after the underlying executive order was temporarily blocked in court on May 9, according to an internal NSF memo reviewed by FYI. The agency had announced earlier that day that it was initiating RIFs of executive positions, eliminating its Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM, and moving rotator staff out of positions that supervise federal employees. The temporary restraining order prohibits executing any existing RIF notices, issuing additional RIF notices, and placing employees on administrative leave at least until May 23, the memo states. The agency has also paused the reassignment of rotator staff. The memo said NSF will continue accepting applications for deferred resignations and voluntary early retirements, but it cannot put the agreements into effect until the court permits.

Meanwhile, NSF has continued to terminate grants and has updated its list of award types that are being terminated to include “environmental justice.” The influence of Department of Government Efficiency employees over grantmaking decisions contributed to the resignation last Tuesday of NSF board member Alondra Nelson, who was appointed to the body by President Joe Biden last year. In announcing the move, Nelson argued the board’s role has been “strategically neutralized.” Later in the week, the remaining 22 members of the board released a statement that highlights the role of federal funding in supporting U.S. competitiveness and asserts that private sector funding will not compensate for “drastic reductions” in federal support.

Harvard hit by new grant cuts

More federal agencies are pulling their research funding to Harvard University, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation, according to an updated lawsuit filed by the university. Last Tuesday, the federal Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced that eight agencies were terminating about $450 million in grants to Harvard, in addition to the $2.2 billion from the National Institutes of Health that was terminated the prior week. The agencies’ termination letters state that Harvard has carried out “race discrimination” in its admissions process and other areas of student life and has permitted “antisemitism and bias” on campus.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit states that the funding freezes and terminations violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights and go beyond the scope of agencies’ anti-discrimination procedures by targeting research programs that are not connected to the alleged discrimination. It adds that if Harvard continues to replace the frozen and terminated funding using its own money it will be “forced to reduce the number of graduate students it admits and the number of faculty and research staff it pays to conduct research.” Separately, dozens of higher education associations signed an open letter last week calling to “reforge the historic compact between higher education and the federal government,” writing that the balance between the two sectors is “dangerously disrupted when billions of dollars in funding for education and competitively awarded research grants are held hostage for political reasons and without due process.”

Major tax changes included in House reconciliation bill

House Republicans’ reconciliation bill cleared a Budget Committee vote on Sunday despite facing opposition from some Republicans seeking deeper budget cuts for fiscal year 2025. The bill would slash clean energy tax breaks introduced during the Biden administration, reintroduce immediate expensing for R&D conducted domestically, and expand taxes on university endowments. The bill would also restore the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auction authority and provide a $150 billion boost to defense spending, with $25 billion in funding for Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense program. University associations have strongly opposed the new endowment taxes while welcoming the renewed R&D tax credit. The bill will now move to the House Rules Committee before a final House floor vote. This effort is separate from the ongoing deliberations over discretionary spending for fiscal year 2026.

Meteorologists to discuss federal cuts at Washington Forum

The American Meteorological Society will hold its Washington Forum Tuesday through Thursday. Among the speakers are David Applegate, chief scientist and former director of the U.S. Geological Survey; Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences; and Craig McLean, former assistant administrator for research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Other sessions will discuss an AMS report on the impact of funding and staffing cuts to NOAA and other federal agencies, the role of scientific societies during a period of rapid policy change, emerging applications of AI, and assessing implementation of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act. (AMS is an AIP Member Society.)

Also on our radar

• DOD announced last week it will begin implementing a 15% cap on indirect cost rates for university research grants, following similar moves by NIH, DOE, and NSF that have since been challenged in court.
• Last week, the Senate confirmed James Danly to serve as deputy secretary of energy and Emil Michael as under secretary for research and engineering of DOD. It also advanced Paul Dabbar’s nomination for deputy secretary of commerce out of committee.
• The National Academies will host a kickoff meeting for its committee on improving regulatory efficiency in US research this Wednesday through Friday and hold a research security workshop on Thursday.
• A Harvard researcher from Russia is facing felony smuggling charges after failing to declare frog embryos that she was bringing into the country in February. The researcher has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since her visa was cancelled three months ago.
• The Commerce Department has rescinded the Biden administration’s AI export control rule, which was set to take effect last week. The department argues the rule would have “stifled American innovation” and “undermined U.S. diplomatic relations with dozens of countries by downgrading them to second-tier status.”
• On June 3, National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt will deliver the second annual State of the Science address, followed by a discussion moderated by former OSTP Director Kelvin Droegemeier.

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All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement. Events beyond this week are listed on our website.

Monday, May 19

Acoustical Society of America: Annual meeting (continues through Friday)

National Academies: Committee on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Sciences spring meeting (continues Tuesday)

National Academies: Manufacturing the future: Innovation by the numbers
1:00 - 2:00 pm

CNAS: Maintaining America’s AI edge
2:00 - 3:00 pm

Tuesday, May 20

AMS: Joint AMS Washington Forum and summer community meeting (continues through Thursday)

NIST: Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction meeting (continues Wednesday)

National Academies: Exploring key research topics for the Fifth International Polar Year (continues Wednesday)

CSPO: Rethinking the NIH: Indirect cost recovery policy
9:00 - 10:30 am

House: Innovations in agrichemicals: AI’s hidden formula driving efficiency
10:00 am, Science Committee

Senate: HHS budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

House: EPA budget hearing
10:00 am, Energy and Commerce Committee

National Academies: Manufacturing USA interagency engagement and cross-network collaboration workshop
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

House: Hearing to consider bills on landslide preparedness, earthquake hazards reduction, and volcano early monitoring and warning
2:00 pm, Natural Resources Committee

CESSE: Assessing the first 100 days and beyond: What the Congress, the courts, and the executive are doing that will affect STEM associations
2:00 pm

National Academies: Foundation models for scientific discovery and innovation: Opportunities across DOE, meeting 10
4:00 - 6:00 pm

Senate: DOE’s atomic energy defense activities and the DOD nuclear weapons program
4:45 pm, Armed Services Committee

Wednesday, May 21

FLC: Federal Lab Consortium national meeting (continues through June 5)

National Academies: Committee on Improving the Regulatory Efficiency and Reducing Administrative Workload to Strengthen Competitiveness and Productivity of US Research, meeting two (continues through Friday)

Senate: Meeting to advance bills on landslide preparedness, water research, and research vessel cybersecurity
10:00 am, Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee

Senate: EPA budget request hearing
10:00 am, Environment and Public Works Committee

House: Education department budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

Senate: The state of higher education
10:00 am, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

Senate: Fueling America’s manufacturing comeback
10:00 am, Small Business Committee

CSIS: Universities powering America’s technology future, featuring University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos
10:00 - 11:00 am

House: Restoring excellence: The case against DEI
10:15 am, Education and Workforce Committee

House: AI regulation and the future of US leadership
10:15, Energy and Commerce Committee

Senate: Interior Department budget request hearing
10:30 am, Appropriations Committee

APS: Science Trust Project welcome webinar
12:00 pm

House: Unleashing a golden age: Examining the use of federal lands to power American technological innovation
2:00 pm, Natural Resources Committee

Senate: The corruption of science and federal health agencies: How health officials downplayed and hid myocarditis and other adverse events associated with the COVID-19 vaccines
2:00 pm, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Senate: DOE budget request hearing
2:30 pm, Energy and Water Development Committee

Thursday, May 22

National Academies: Workshop on assessing research security efforts in higher education (continues Friday)

Senate: Securing America: Key authorities under the Defense Production Act
10:00 am, Banking Committee

Carnegie Endowment: Has the world arrived in a new nuclear age?
10:00 - 11:30 am

FCC: Open commission meeting
10:30 am - 12:30 pm

National Academies: Frontiers in geologic hydrogen
11:00 am - 5:00 pm

AMS / IMSI: Mathematical foundations of AI innovation and trustworthiness, congressional briefing
12:00 - 1:30 pm

National Academies: Quadrennial review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, report release webinar
3:30 - 4:30 pm

UC San Diego: Running the right AI race: US-China competition in general-purpose technologies
5:00 pm PT

Friday, May 23

No events

Monday, May 26

Memorial Day

Tuesday, May 27

National Academies: Committee on Key Non-Polar Destinations Across the Moon to Address Decadal-level Science Objectives with Human Explorers: Panel on Lunar and Planetary Sciences, meeting one (continues through Thursday)

National Academies: Committee on the Future of Drought in the US, meeting one
3:30 - 4:15 pm

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

On April 15, the Trump administration extended the federal hiring freeze into the summer.

Job Openings

◆RAND: Technical AI policy associate (ongoing)
◆AIAA: Aerospace America editor in chief (ongoing)
◆Cape Fox: Program analyst, NIH Office of the Director (ongoing)
◆Columbus Technologies: Scientific program analyst, NIH (ongoing)
◆Simons Foundation: Program coordinator, science, society and culture (ongoing)
◆Lawrence Livermore National Lab: Principal associate director for National Ignition Facility and photon science (ongoing)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab: Associate deputy director for science and technology (ongoing)
Bipartisan Policy Center: Associate director, energy program (ongoing)
Bipartisan Policy Center: Senior policy analyst, energy program (ongoing)
American Association of Cancer Research: Director, regulatory science and policy (ongoing)
American Association of Cancer Research: Director, science and health policy (ongoing)
White House: OSTP assistant director (May 23)
White House: OSTP policy advisor (May 23)
UN: Office of Outer Space Affairs government relations officer (June 5)
UCAR: Legislative specialist (May 27)
◆DOD: Senior technical advisor, White House Military Office (May 27)
ANS: Congressional science and engineering fellowship (June 6)

Solicitations

National Academies: Research regulatory efficiency consensus study survey (ongoing)
Grant Watch Collection form for NSF grant cancellations (ongoing)
Grant Watch: Collection form for NIH grant cancellations (ongoing)
◆AAS: Grant cancellation survey (ongoing)
AAAS: Assessing the impacts of federal policies on the US STEMM community (ongoing)
APS: Survey collecting stories about the positive impact of federally funded research (ongoing)
OPM: RFC on reclassification of policy employees (May 23)
NSF: RFI on national artificial intelligence research plan (May 29)
NSB: Call for nominations to the National Science Board (May 30)
NSF: RFC on NSF Education and Training Application (June 1)
NSF: RFC on evaluation of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (June 1)
EPA: Call for nominations to the Science Advisory Board (June 2)

Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

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News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

White House

White House: Remarks by OSTP Director Kratsios at the National Academy of Sciences
FedScoop: White House staff instructed not to discuss RIF plans with agencies following court order
Politico: White House considers plan B as DOGE cuts hit a wall on the Hill
SpacePolicyOnline: A second Trump National Space Council would be busy
Politico: No one knows who’s in charge of Trump’s dramatic space policy

Congress

House Science Committee: Republicans send letters to universities questioning the security of SBIR and STTR programs
House CCP Committee: Republicans call on Duke to terminate China-based campus over national security risks
House CCP Committee: Republicans demand answers from Harvard over ties to Chinese military, sanctioned entities, and Iranian government
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN): Banks introduces bill to block US tech from fueling China’s military
House Science Committee: Science committee Democrats hold roundtable after Trump administration cancels NOAA’s billion-dollar disaster report
Senate HELP Committee: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) releases report documenting Trump’s war on science
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR): Cotton introduces bill to repeal DEI requirements within STEM workforce
Scholarly Kitchen: A tumultuous week at the Library of Congress (perspective by Todd Carpenter)

Science, Society, and the Economy

Science: Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate
Nature: US researchers must stand up to protect freedoms, not just funding (perspective by Andrew Leifer, et al.)
Inside Higher Ed: Can scientific research survive without federal funding?
Wall Street Journal: Financial reckoning hits universities: Pay cuts, layoffs and no coffee
Wall Street Journal: America’s college towns go from boom to bust
The Economist: The MAGA revolution threatens America’s most innovative place: Boston
New York Times: 9 federally funded scientific breakthroughs that changed everything
Optics.org: SPIE calls on photonics industry to defend US investment in science and technology
Reuters: China says to accelerate financial support for sci-tech innovation

Education and Workforce

New York Times: The world is wooing US researchers shunned by Trump
Nature: US brain drain: the scientists seeking jobs abroad amid Trump’s assault on research
Politico: Brussels wants faster visa paths to lure US researchers
Wired: US tech visa applications are being put through the ringer
1A: What Donald Trump’s science funding cuts mean for young researchers (audio)
The Conversation: Where tomorrow’s scientists prefer to live − and where they’d rather not
Chronicle of Higher Education: How to prepare for the ‘worst job market in a generation’
Chronicle of Higher Education: The Trump administration widens its scrutiny of colleges, with help from the internet
Inside Higher Ed: Education Department releases new foreign gifts data
Chronicle of Higher Education: Trump is destroying DEI with the same tools that built it (perspective by Noliwe Rooks)
Chronicle of Higher Education: We don’t need more administrators inspecting our ideas (perspective by Nicolas Langlitz)

Research Management

Science: Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF
Undark Magazine: The chilling effect of DEI crackdowns in scientific publishing
Heterodox STEM: Collaborating with woke college regimes will not save STEM (perspective by Mitt Castor)
Chemical & Engineering News: As NIH publication halts manuscript acceptance, ToxSci steps in
Science: Low-quality papers are surging by exploiting public data sets and AI
Science and Public Policy: Progress is neither swift nor easy: assessing funding agencies’ capacity to address science inequities (paper by Yohanna Juk, et al.)
Emerging Technologies Institute: Grading the US national security innovation base (video)
ChinaTalk: Why the US needs a Department of Competitiveness (audio)

Labs and Facilities

Wall Street Journal: The US nuclear base hidden under Greenland’s ice for decades
E&E News: NWS offers employees new jobs in new locations
Washington Post: NOAA scrambles to fill forecasting jobs as hurricane season looms
The Conversation: Challenges to high-performance computing threaten US innovation (perspective by Jack Dongarra)

Computing and Communications

Nature: DeepMind unveils ‘spectacular’ general-purpose science AI
HPCwire: AI tools may be weakening the quality of published research, study warns
The Information: House committee proposes decade-long ban on state AI laws
FedScoop: With trust in AI flagging, senators want Commerce to lead education campaign
Export Compliance Daily: US AI diffusion framework needs tweaks, not sledgehammer, researchers say
ITIF: If AI training is theft, then everyone’s a thief (perspective by Ayesha Bhatti)

Space

Space Review: Budget cuts and the fraying of international partnerships
Scientific American: Why NASA’s VIPER lunar rover is still in limbo
Scientific American: Trump’s budget cuts would sabotage NASA’s plans to find alien life (perspective by Michael Wong)
SpaceNews: Foreign SpaceX launch customers seek relief from US tariffs
SpaceNews: I’m an exoplanet scientist. Here’s what we lose if we don’t launch Roman (perspective by Mary Anne Limbach)
SpaceNews: Space debris crisis: The national security threat we’re ignoring (perspective by Ken Eppens)
NASA OIG: NASA’s compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act for fiscal year 2024 (report)
Ars Technica: A privately developed Australian rocket is ready for a historic launch
NASA: NASA welcomes Norway as 55th nation to sign Artemis Accords
NASA: Nancy Grace Roman’s 100th birthday

Weather, Climate, and Environment

E&E News: Energy and Commerce unveils broad climate law rollbacks
E&E News: 3 signs that Trump might quit the world’s oldest climate treaty
MIT Technology Review: How US research cuts are threatening crucial climate data
E&E News: Trump weighs axing climate guidance for NEPA reviews
New York Times: Farmers sued over deleted climate data. So the government will put it back
USGS: USGS offers funding to states to find critical minerals in mine waste
Wired: The EPA will likely gut team that studies health risks from chemicals
New York Times: The weather service had a plan to reinvent itself. Did DOGE stop it?
Scientific American: How Trump’s National Weather Service cuts could cost lives

Energy

New York Times: Republican budget bill aims to end IRA clean energy boom
E&E News: DOE unveils sweeping deregulatory plan
Fusion Industry Association: FIA sends letter to Congress on support for fusion in tax policy to ensure fairness, innovation, and global competitiveness
Power: It’s time to build American energy — but it’s getting late (perspective by L. Michelle Moore)

Defense

New York Times: Richard L. Garwin, a creator of the hydrogen bomb, dies at 97
New York Times: Dick Garwin fought nuclear armageddon. He hid a 50-year secret
American Nuclear Society: NNSA to conduct NEPA review of plutonium pit production
SpaceNews: Space Force officials say it’s too early to pin down Golden Dome costs
Inside Defense: Guam’s $8 billion missile shield fuels questions about Golden Dome costs
Inside Defense: DIA’s Golden Dome threat analysis
CSIS: Building a Golden Dome: Lessons from the 1950s (perspective by Peppi DeBiaso)

Biomedical

Roll Call: Kennedy defends budget request but is silent on big HHS changes
Wall Street Journal: Trump officials balk at RFK Jr.’s attack on pesticides
Financial Times: Health researchers warn of setbacks as they navigate ‘fog’ of US funding cuts
Stat: WHO trims top management ranks amid financial crunch
New York Times: Studies of breast cancer and other diseases threatened by new policy
Stat: ‘I don’t know that’: Federal judge flags factual claims in NIH grant termination case
MIT Technology Review: A US court just put ownership of CRISPR back in play
MIT Technology Review: The first US hub for experimental medical treatments is coming

International Affairs

Bloomberg: Trump’s rush to cut AI deals in Saudi Arabia and UAE opens rift with China hawks
Commerce Department: UAE/US framework on advanced technology cooperation
Bloomberg: What’s at stake as the US gives Saudis access to state-of-the-art AI chips
ChinaTalk: Xi takes an AI masterclass
Research Professional: UK foreign talent schemes lined up ‘for individuals and groups’
Science|Business: European research projects hit by halt to NIH sub-awards
Science|Business: Japan’s Science and Technology Council and ORCID sign memorandum of cooperation
Science and Public Policy: The challenges of displaced and exiled scientists (perspectives)