FASEB Statement on Executive Order, Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking

Friday, August 22, 2025
The Executive Order (E.O.), “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” issued on August 7, 2025, represents the latest effort by the Trump Administration to subvert existing apolitical, merit-based federal grantmaking processes and increase executive influence over projects selected for funding. Similar to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued earlier this year by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to “strengthen employee accountability” within the civil service, the E.O. seeks to rely on individuals appointed by the President to review and serve as the final word in approving agency funding announcements and grant awards. Thus, the E.O. serves as a new mechanism by which the administration is attempting to codify its policies currently facing legal challenges, including withholding grant payments to entire institutions, altering indirect cost rates, and terminating existing grant awards for “no longer effectuating agency priorities,” many of which the courts have already deemed as unlawful.

As a coalition of 22 scientific societies representing over 100,000 researchers across biological and biomedical scientific disciplines, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is deeply concerned about these continued efforts to politicize federal policy- and grantmaking processes. However, we also acknowledge that members of the public – including Members of Congress – may not fully understand the implications of this E.O. on the ability of the government to fund research free from political interference. Therefore, we call upon scientists to help educate their local communities and elected officials about the impact of this E.O. through op-eds, letters-to-the-editor, and other communications.