The End of American Science
Snotnose writes:
1. Political Appointees Take Control of Grant Awards (200.205). Senior political appointees, rather than career scientists or program officers, would now be required to conduct a "pre-issuance review" of every discretionary grant before it is awarded. These appointees are explicitly forbidden from deferring to peer reviewers or routinely ratifying their recommendations.
2. Peer Review Is No Longer Binding The rule explicitly states that peer review recommendations "remain advisory and are not ministerially ratified, routinely deferred to, or otherwise treated as de facto binding."
3. "Gold Standard Science" as an Undefined Political Test (200.205) without defining it in any concrete or measurable way.
4. Active Grants Can Be Terminated at Any Time, for Any Reason (200.340). The rule codifies and expands the authority to terminate active grants mid-award simply because they are "inconsistent with program goals or agency priorities."
5. DEI, Gender Research, and Related Topics Banned as Grant Conditions (200.300)
6. Broad Prohibition on International Scientific Collaboration (200.220)
7. "Domestic-First" Framework for Research Awards (200.202(e))
8. Applicants Can Be Denied Based on Organizational "Affiliations" (200.206)
9. E-Verify Mandated for All Grant Recipients (200.303)
10. OMB Claims Direct Binding Authority Over All Agencies
There's 19 total, some might have merit with a bit of tweaking but the majority of this is flat out anti-science garbage.
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