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White House stalls release of approved US science budgets. Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.
>Weeks after the US Congress rejected unprecedented cuts to science budgets that the administration of US President Donald Trump had sought for 2026, funding to several agencies that award research grants is still not freely flowing.
>One reason is that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been slow to authorize its release. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has so far not received approval to spend any of the research funding allocated in a budget bill signed into law on 3 February. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) was authorized to spend its funding just last week. And NASA has had its full funding authorized for release, but with an unusual restriction that limits spending on ten specific programmes — many of which the Trump team had tried to cancel last year.
>The OMB did not respond to Nature’s queries about these moves or when the outstanding funding might be approved. OMB director Russell Vought has said in the past that the office’s role in doling out government funding can be an “indispensable statutory tool” to ensure that agencies are not wasting public funds and are adhering to White House priorities. Vought has also said that the OMB can provide less funding than what Congress has appropriated.
>“This is a drastic departure from historical practice,” Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of a US House of Representatives committee that drafts government spending bills, told Nature. DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington who is the ranking member of a similar committee in the US Senate, demanded that the OMB release funds, as is required by law. (The Republican chairs of the two committees, Representative Tom Cole, of Oklahoma, and Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, did not respond to Nature’s queries about the delays.)
I'm the reporter who wrote the story. As always, I'm keen to hear if there's anything I missed, or if you have anything else that you think should be on my radar — especially if you work at HHS or NIH. My Signal is mkozlov.01. You can stay anonymous. Happy to answer any questions about how I reported this story too!
PS: If you hit the paywall, make a free account. It should let you read the full story.
In an alternate reality we tax the ultra wealthy at pre-Reagan levels, have universal healthcare, strong environmental and consumer protections, enforce anti-trust laws, enforce ethics laws, and fund the crap out of institutions like NASA that work to realize the full positive potential of the human race.
Instead we get the greediest healthcare system on the planet, half a country that doesn't believe in climate science, wanton corruption, fraud, and outright theft, and taxpayer-subsidized AI data centers.
I sigh a depressed sigh every time I see articles like this.
[OP] maxkozlov | 5 hours ago
>Weeks after the US Congress rejected unprecedented cuts to science budgets that the administration of US President Donald Trump had sought for 2026, funding to several agencies that award research grants is still not freely flowing.
>One reason is that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been slow to authorize its release. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has so far not received approval to spend any of the research funding allocated in a budget bill signed into law on 3 February. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) was authorized to spend its funding just last week. And NASA has had its full funding authorized for release, but with an unusual restriction that limits spending on ten specific programmes — many of which the Trump team had tried to cancel last year.
>The OMB did not respond to Nature’s queries about these moves or when the outstanding funding might be approved. OMB director Russell Vought has said in the past that the office’s role in doling out government funding can be an “indispensable statutory tool” to ensure that agencies are not wasting public funds and are adhering to White House priorities. Vought has also said that the OMB can provide less funding than what Congress has appropriated.
>“This is a drastic departure from historical practice,” Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of a US House of Representatives committee that drafts government spending bills, told Nature. DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington who is the ranking member of a similar committee in the US Senate, demanded that the OMB release funds, as is required by law. (The Republican chairs of the two committees, Representative Tom Cole, of Oklahoma, and Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, did not respond to Nature’s queries about the delays.)
I'm the reporter who wrote the story. As always, I'm keen to hear if there's anything I missed, or if you have anything else that you think should be on my radar — especially if you work at HHS or NIH. My Signal is mkozlov.01. You can stay anonymous. Happy to answer any questions about how I reported this story too!
PS: If you hit the paywall, make a free account. It should let you read the full story.
Radic_Allef_Tist | 5 hours ago
In an alternate reality we tax the ultra wealthy at pre-Reagan levels, have universal healthcare, strong environmental and consumer protections, enforce anti-trust laws, enforce ethics laws, and fund the crap out of institutions like NASA that work to realize the full positive potential of the human race.
Instead we get the greediest healthcare system on the planet, half a country that doesn't believe in climate science, wanton corruption, fraud, and outright theft, and taxpayer-subsidized AI data centers.
I sigh a depressed sigh every time I see articles like this.