FASEB Urges Action in Response to Executive Order on Federal Grantmaking

By: Yvette Seger and Jennifer Zeitzer
Thursday, August 28, 2025
On August 22, FASEB issued a statement expressing concerns about the recent Executive Order (E.O.), “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” and calling upon the research community to take action to help inform their local communities and election officials about the impact of this E.O.

In its statement, FASEB noted that the E.O. represented the latest effort to convert previously apolitical and consensus-driven processes into vehicles for partisan priorities and codify policies currently being challenged in court. Earlier in the year, a comparable effort by the Office of Personnel Management sought to expand executive oversight of the U.S. civil service under the guise of “strengthening employee accountability.”

FASEB is deeply concerned about these continued efforts to politicize federal policy- and grantmaking processes, especially since the E.O. was released at a time when Congress was on its summer break. In addition, many Americans may be unaware of the E.O. or not fully comprehend the implications of this directive on the ability of the government to fund research free from political interference. FASEB is urging 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.