Supporting AOS members in uncertain times

23 June 2026 Update

Many of you have been hearing about the U.S. federal government’s extensive proposed changes to the rules for federal grant funding, released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and published in the Federal Registrar on 29 May 2026. These sweeping, proposed revisions would substantially change the U.S. federal research grant model. In particular, these revisions would:

• Insert political appointees into the federal grant application evaluation processes; these individuals would review a grant application’s alignment with the political priorities of the administration, rather than scientific priorities or merits
• Allow grants to be canceled for any reason, at any time if they no longer align with political goals
• Identify new unallowable costs for federal grants, such as publication fees for scientific research or conference costs and professional memberships, unless specifically written into the grant
• Introduce new blanket foreign restrictions on international collaboration with specific “covered foreign countries”
• Codify some of the bans on supporting diversity, equity, or inclusion work using federal grants

The AOS joined 322 other organizations to sign a letter urging the OMB to extend the comment period from 45 days to 90 days, to ensure time for a multi-disciplinary analysis and well-informed response to the proposed changes. The AOS is also a partner in the American Physical Society’s (APS) initiative to provide meaningful comments on this rule.  We encourage our members to use the APS’s tool to draft comments on four of the key potential impacts of this proposal.