In Brief
Take Action: Apply Now for the 2026–2027 Congressional Fellowship
Interested in using your science skills to inform science policy? Does spending a year working on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, helping develop policy sound exciting? The Biophysical Society’s Congressional Fellowship program is your opportunity to participate directly in the process of law-making that impacts how research is funded and regulated. This year-long opportunity provides fellows a chance to utilize their science knowledge to inform the public policy process. Fellows will gain firsthand knowledge and experience on how Congress works and participate in the esteemed AAAS Science and Technology Fellows program that provides ongoing training and networking opportunities during the fellowship year and beyond. Visit the BPS Congressional Fellowship website for more details about the program or contact Leann Fox at [email protected] or (240) 290-5606. The application deadline is December 12, 2025.
White House Executive Order Oversight of Federal Grantmaking
On August 7, the White House issued yet another Executive Order (EO) on Oversight of Federal Grantmaking. The order, which includes inserting a new category of political appointees into roles that would allow them to make determinations on the awarding of scientific research grants, providing a mechanism for ‘termination of grants for convenience,’ and a directive that gives preference to academic institutions with the lowest indirect cost rates. The provisions within this order are poised to have a catastrophic, cascading effect on the scientific and medical research community.
BPS is helping to lead a science and medical coalition response to address the sweeping issues presented by this order and to request Congressional intervention. Federal research grants have always been held to a high standard of public accountability and transparency, the politicization of research decision-making over scientific merit and public health priorities should never be allowed to occur.
Hope Glimmers on NIH Forward-Funding Policy Change
While 2025 continues to shape itself into a rollercoaster of change, challenges and uphill battles on behalf of basic and biomedical research, a beacon of hope emerged in the Senate Appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human Service (L-HHS), which includes the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Included within the Manager’s Amendment, a mechanism for streamlining changes to a bill, was a proposal from Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to counter plans for ‘forward funding’ within NIH.
The Baldwin amendment would bar NIH from forward funding grants in excess of the number of grants issued with forward-funding in fiscal year 2024. While a similar amendment was not included in the House L-HHS appropriations bill, its inclusion in the Senate bill means that an opportunity still remains in conference to prevent the transition to this model.
While forward-funding of grants has begun within individual Institutes, the transition to 100% of grants being forward-funded is expected by 2027. The new policy is a marked shift for the agency, who had previously resisted such a change to upfront funding due to the overall impact it will have on the number of grants able to be funded in a given fiscal year.
GAO Says NIH Illegally Withheld Research Funds
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) by canceling grants, pausing the publication of grant review notices, and slowing new awards in response to executive branch directives. GAO concluded that these actions illegally withheld congressionally appropriated funds without following the formal process required under the ICA.
Although the Office of Management and Budget briefly reversed course after public criticism, billions remain locked up with less than two months left in the fiscal year. GAO stressed that presidents have "no unilateral authority to withhold" appropriated funds, underscoring its role in protecting Congress's constitutional power of the purse. Between February and June 2025, NIH awarded nearly $8 billion less than during the same period in 2024, representing 62% of prior-year obligations.