US spending deal temporarily blocks political control over science grants

The US House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding measure on Tuesday that would keep the federal government running through early December. The bill still needs the president's signature, but he is widely expected to sign it to avoid a shutdown just before the midterm elections.

Relying on short-term funding measures rather than a full-year budget has become common practice in recent years, since building sufficient political support for a complete annual budget in advance is often difficult. This time, disagreement within the House Republican caucus prevented lawmakers from crafting their own funding bill, so the House instead adopted the version the Senate had already passed in early August.

A win for science advocates

For scientists and their supporters, that outcome proved beneficial. The Senate's budget bill contains a provision blocking the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from implementing new rules that would give political appointees full authority over which science projects receive funding, along with the power to cancel any grant at any time. The proposed rule drew widespread criticism from scientific and health-focused organizations, which warned it could be catastrophic for research funding.

That opposition likely played a role in prompting Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to add language to the budget deal preventing OMB from enacting the rule before the stopgap measure expires on December 11. While the reprieve is temporary, it signals that lawmakers are not eager to grant OMB and other administration officials sweeping control over federal spending decisions.

The bill passed the Senate by a 90-6 margin and the House by 370-48, with opposition in the House centered mainly on unrelated provisions. Those wide margins suggest similar protective language could be included in future budget agreements without triggering significant pushback.