The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a component of the Executive Office of the President that helps the President oversee the federal government's budget, regulations, and management policies. One of its major responsibilities is to issue government wide guidance on grants, contracts, and financial management and coordinate policy implementation across federal agencies. On May 29, OMB released a proposed rule impacting federal financial assistance designed as a MAJOR restructuring of all federal grants and other federal financial assistance under 2 Code of Federal Regulations subtitle A, thereby working to codify this administration’s executive orders into durable and hard-to-challenge regulations.  

The Big Picture 
The rule if finalized by October 1, 2026, will result in a binding OMB regulation, the “Uniform Grants Regulations,” that will apply to every new federal award going forward across more than 40 federal agencies. It also applies to active federal awards, impacts every stage in the process of federal science funding since awards must align with the administration’s policies and priorities rather than be funded under scientific merit, harms the ability to use federal funds to attend conferences and publish your results, requires prior written approval before the use of award funds to be used to join professional societies, overrides independent peer review by designating a senior political appointee to conduct a “pre-issuance review” of every discretionary grant, expands the authority to terminate active grants mid-award, and increases the cost of research by increasing administrative burdens.

The comment period closed on July 13, and FASEB has provided comments you can view HERE.  It is essential that members of Congress hear from their constituents who receive federal grants . Tell them that the federal government is the primary driver of U.S. science and technology advancements and federal investment in fundamental research and creates thousands of jobs in every state.  Tell your member of congress there will be job loss due to abrupt grant terminations, the creation of an unstable environment for researchers driving them to other countries, and harmful impacts on international research collaborations.

Use this TOOL to draft your comments, copy the message,  and insert it into the form when you Take Action.