Bad Democrat

In 2025, the Trump administration froze or terminated over $3 billion in previously approved science and research grants. The grants were to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF). They also (from the Brennan Foundation):

-Sought to go around Congress to cap reimbursements for “indirect costs,” such as laboratories, staff, and maintenance, a move that administration officials at the NIH expected to further reduce funding by $4 billion.

– Asked Congress to cut scientific research by an additional $44 billion (22 percent) in a single year, as estimated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Froze, terminated, or cast into doubt other grants through a mass funding freeze that sought to pause “all Federal financial assistance.”

The administration has noted that they found the grants to freeze based on keywords searches that the researchers used to find their focus, and they selected grants where the researchers entered liberal hot button terms.

From NBC News:

The office argues that the rule is meant to ensure that grants align with the sitting president’s priorities and to improve oversight. The rule proposes that political appointees screen grant applications to ensure they do not “promote anti-American values,” and they could terminate grants they saw as “no longer in the Federal Government’s interest.”

In an appearance before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee in June, Energy Secretary Chris Wright denied that decisions made around grant cancellations were partisan. 

“No decisions were made on politics. I keep hearing that charge. It’s bulls—t. We’re going to say it a million times,” Wright said. 

In a social media post in October, when the 284 grants were canceled, OMB Director Russ Vought wrote, “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”

Nice to be reminded that administrations can find your keyword searches.