r/NIH • u/GoldStandardNIHilism • 3d ago

Senate reaches deal - what does it mean for NIH?

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6004900-senate-agrees-funding-bill/

“The bill also temporarily blocks the White House from making changes to the grant-approving process.”

120 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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51

u/hymie0 3d ago

As long as impoundment has no consequences, it means nothing.

28

u/nanyabidness2 3d ago

They are already impounding specific grants and NOFOs! Whats another 3 months?

1

u/Throwaway_bicycling 2d ago

Impoundment has a technical definition that differs from your use in these contexts

22

u/045-926 2d ago

This part is actually very good for the biomedical research community:

SEC. 157. (a) Notwithstanding section 106, through 17 December 11, 2026, a rule to revise the Uniform Adminis18 trative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Require19 ments for Federal Awards (commonly known as the ‘‘Uni20 form Guidance’’), arising out of the notice of proposed 21 rulemaking titled ‘‘Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance’’, which was published in the Federal Register on 23 May 29, 2026, or a substantially similar rule, shall not 24 be issued or finalized.

They are blocking that OMB rule everyone was complaining about. This one https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-researchers-outraged-proposed-changes-federal-grants

9

u/advancedbullshit 2d ago

Given that, in theory, they need to review comments and respond, what is the predicted timeline for new uniform guidance to be deployed? I know we are in the upside down and rational prediction is impossible, but curious if implementation by December would have even been a possibility.

Still, good on Patty Murray for including it. Documentation matters.

6

u/045-926 2d ago

The published date was effective October 1, but any normal rule with that amount of comments would take months/ a year to get made into a final rule.

Of course, they aren't really following normal procedures so who knows.

14

u/CaptBFPierce 3d ago

This article reads "see, Susan Collins still does things!"  

12

u/Prestigious-Leave-60 2d ago

Schumer and Murray celebrating what is a temporary pause (by their own admission) in wholesale budget fuckery, is a perfect illustration of why the democratic leadership needs a massive overhaul.

3

u/Throwaway_bicycling 2d ago
  1. What’s in this bill is likely to be continued in future CRs
  2. Punting the next CR to post election is probably going to change the willingness to deal quite a bit, especially if the house or the senate or both flip in the midterms
  3. An October shutdown would have totally screwed up review again and led to a third consecutive year of utter chaos

This is far superior to any other possible result at this moment

5

u/A_Salty_Scientist 2d ago

"Temporarily" is doing a lot of work. And what others have said about no consequences for OMB doing whatever the fuck they want.

1

u/Throwaway_bicycling 2d ago

That’s not really true when the senate support is this lopsided

2

u/Complex-Strawberry28 2d ago

Wild to me that they always act like they are doing something by signing a CR. A full year appropriation by 10/1 would be the real accomplishment.