Senate leadership on Sunday released the text of a bipartisan government funding stopgap measure that would block the White House's proposal to give political appointees control over federal research grants, dealing a temporary but significant setback to the administration's sweeping science-funding overhaul.
The continuing resolution would fund the government until December 11 and block the White House's new grants proposal at least until then. The provision emerged from bipartisan discussions in the appropriations committee, to which Republican leadership agreed — and, as STAT notes, it will be more difficult for Republicans to allow the plan to take effect now that they have agreed to block it, even temporarily.
The Senate is expected to consider the funding bill this week before breaking for August recess. The government funding bill passed by the House two weeks ago does not include a similar provision, and the House is already in recess. Once both chambers return, they will need to reconcile their versions before government funding expires at the end of September, after which the president would need to sign the final bill.
The White House proposal, pushed by the Office of Management and Budget and championed by the administration's chief science adviser, would subject research grants from agencies such as the NIH and NSF to direct political scrutiny, a move critics say would politicize peer-reviewed science. The Senate rebuke has drawn rare bipartisan agreement, with even Senate Republicans joining in opposition to the plan, according to the Washington Post. A Senate vote this week could temporarily halt the plan if lawmakers' efforts succeed.
