Science Policy This Week: November 24, 2025

What’s Ahead

"Corn," a turkey pardoned by President Trump in 2020 — “Corn,” a turkey pardoned by President Trump in 2020.

White House

Congress looks to finalize annual defense megabill

Negotiations are moving forward on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026, with lawmakers saying they are close to settling on a final text. The House and Senate versions of the bill each include a variety of research policy proposals that may make it into the final bill. Among the most controversial is the SAFE Research Act included in the House bill, which would place sweeping limits on partnerships involving researchers affiliated with “hostile” entities. The American Council on Education published a letter last week urging Congress to reject the act, calling it “problematically broad” and either duplicative of or in conflict with existing research security provisions. The bill’s requirements would “end all engagement with universities in countries such as China and would have a chilling effect on any desire among researchers to work with Chinese partners or Chinese graduate students,” ACE states.

Another controversial item is the House’s interest in adding a moratorium on state AI regulation to the NDAA. The idea was originally included in the reconciliation megabill that Republicans passed in July, but was overwhelmingly voted down before the bill’s final passage. President Donald Trump suggested last week that Congress use the NDAA or a separate bill to set “one federal standard instead of a patchwork of 50 state regulatory regimes,” and media reports suggest the president has drafted an executive order to block states from enforcing AI regulations.

The Senate version of the NDAA includes a provision that would prohibit modification to DOD’s indirect cost rates without input from the extramural research community. The text adds that any changes must reduce the indirect cost rate for all DOD-funded universities and nonprofits from fiscal year 2025 rates and allow “adequate transition time” before going into effect.

NIH halts SBIR continuing awards, solicitations

The National Institutes of Health announced last week that it will not issue any new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards or offer continuation awards to existing projects. The agency said its decision stemmed from the Oct. 1 lapse in legislative authority for the two small business technology maturation programs. Other agencies with SBIR and STTR programs — such as the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation — have not made similar announcements, but congressional staff told FYI in October that agencies can only fund current awards during the lapse in authorization, not issue new SBIR/STTR solicitations or make new awards. House Science Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said her committee and the House and Senate small business committees are continuing negotiations on the reauthorization. Lofgren called on the Senate to pass the one-year extension that passed earlier in the House. Senate Republicans have opposed the extension, including Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who insisted on the inclusion of several program reforms to “root out waste.” Ernst is reportedly trying to get her version of the reauthorization added to the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

US-China Commission issues quantum, export control recommendations

Congress should establish a “Quantum First” national goal focused on achieving a quantum computational advantage in cryptography, drug discovery, and materials science by 2030, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s annual report to Congress. This effort would involve providing “significant funding” for U.S. quantum development and quantum workforce development initiatives, prioritizing modernization of enabling infrastructure, and establishing a Quantum Software Engineering Institute modeled after the National Science Foundation’s National AI Research Institutes. The annual report also recommends that Congress strengthen export controls in “fast-moving technology sectors, such as leading-edge semiconductors” with AI applications, and to address challenges from China’s “systematic and persistent evasion” of such controls, including by establishing a “consolidated economic statecraft entity” with export control and sanction authorities.

The commission also issued a separate report last week focused on competition between the U.S. and China in quantum. The report said that the U.S. “still leads the world in most quantum research,” but that China leads in quantum communications and is “aggressively pursuing cryptographically relevant quantum computing.”

Also on our radar

Jared Isaacman’s second nomination hearing to be NASA administrator is set for Dec. 3. Isaacman will likely face fresh questions over his vision for NASA following the leak of his Project Athena manifesto.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed deals last week on civil nuclear energy, critical minerals, and AI.
All NIH awards issued after Oct. 1 can be canceled if they are deemed to not “effectuate” program goals or agency priorities, according to new agency guidance. The policy applies to existing awards that undergo changes in scope.
In an unusually scathing order, a judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from fining or cutting federal funding to the University of California system, stating that the White House is engaged in a pressure campaign that violates the First Amendment and multiple laws. The administration’s proposed deal to restore terminated grants to UCLA sought a nearly $1.2 billion fine from the university.