Panic in US Science
The Trump administration’s move to pause federal funding while projects are vetted causes concern and lawsuits
Stephanie Vine | | 3 min read | News
A memo sent by the Trump administration requesting a temporary pause on federal funding, including grants, loans, aid, and other financial assistance amounting to trillions of US dollars, has been rescinded. The memo was originally distributed because the administration wanted time to vet the funding to ensure it was in line with their agenda, and was not benefitting “woke” programs or “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” A copy of the memo is available online (credit to US Davis).
As soon as the Trump administration announced their intent, legal challenges were launched by Democratic state attorneys and nonprofit organizations. An oral hearing was scheduled for Monday. Although the memo has now been rescinded, confusion remains.
“This reckless action by the administration would be catastrophic for nonprofit organizations and the people and communities they serve,” said Diane Yentel, Chief Executive of the National Council of Nonprofits, which is named on the lawsuit. “From pausing research on cures for childhood cancer to halting housing and food assistance, shuttering domestic violence and homeless shelters, and closing suicide hotlines, the impact of even a short pause in funding could be devastating and cost lives.”
A statement about the lawsuit also added, “The White House Memo fails to explain the source of OMB’s purported legal authority to gut every grant program in the federal government; it fails to consider the reliance interest of the many grant recipients, including those to whom money had already been promised.”
The WHO also raised concerns about the impact on the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative. A statement said, “A funding halt for HIV programmes can put people living with HIV at immediate increased risk of illness and death and undermine efforts to prevent transmission in communities and countries. Such measures, if prolonged, could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, reversing decades of progress and potentially taking the world back to the 1980s and 1990s when millions died of HIV every year globally, including many in the United States of America.”
Even prior to the memo, institutions such as the NIH had already halted grant reviews and funding decisions. The US National Science Foundation has also paused all review panels, new awards, and payments of funds under open awards.
As Nature reports, “chaos” has erupted in US science, with universities advising faculty members not to spend already approved federal grants. Researchers are panicking.
Professor of Biology at Seattle Pacific, Tracie Delgado, posted on X that her NIH grant awarded in July 2024 to fund antiviral research had been paused. A viral post on X also claims that a patient about to start a clinical trial for skin cancer had been cancelled while the study was paused, but the validity of the claim has not been verified. Andrea Apolo, a cancer researcher at NCI and NIH posted that she was told that she could not submit research for publication, attend meetings, or hire staff.
The Association of American Cancer Institutes says, “AACI’s primary public policy advocacy goal is ensuring robust, predictable federal funding for cancer research. A prolonged federal funding freeze will have devastating consequences for scientific research, stifling innovation and slowing progress against cancer.”
Mike Thompson, who represents California’s 4th Congressional District, said, “It’s alarming that the Administration has taken action to indefinitely and indiscriminately freeze important federal funds. These funds were lawfully appropriated by Congress and are owed to the American people. In freezing them, the Administration has unleashed chaos on states, localities, American families, nonprofits, and businesses across our country.”
A Q&A has also been published by the White House Office of Management and Budget, but widespread confusion remains. The Q&A states that any program not “implicated” by the President’s Executive Orders is not subject to the pause. The named Executive Orders are:
- Protecting the American People Against Invasion
- Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
- Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements
- Unleashing American Energy
- Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
- Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
- Enforcing the Hyde Amendment
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