New Infographic Highlights FASEB’s 2025 Advocacy and Policy Wins

By: Jennifer Zeitzer
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Despite extraordinary challenges and major disruptions to the research community in 2025, the collective efforts of FASEB’s 22 member societies led to several meaningful advocacy and policy victories. In February, FASEB released a new infographic summarizing the federation’s accomplishments on Capitol Hill and with federal science agencies. 

As demonstrated by the infographic, progress was made in the following areas:

• Preventing Cuts in Research Funding – the final fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills not only rejected devastating cuts that were proposed earlier in the year, some agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), received a small increase
• Maintaining Funding Necessary to Pay for the Costs of Performing Research – the FY 2026 bill funding NIH prohibits implementation of policies altering Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost rates, limits multi-year funding obligations, and directs merit-based funding of new awards with monthly reporting to appropriations committees. Language in other spending bills prevents the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Office of Management and Budget from altering F&A rates under current regulations
• Engaging in Legal Advocacy – partnered with other organizations and scientific societies to support successful legal advocacy, including co-authoring an amicus brief that was part of the proceedings when the Supreme Court considered the American Public Health Association versus NIH case

 These highlighted achievements are exemplary of what is possible when advocates unite through partnership and collaboration in support of a common mission. FASEB thanks all of those in the scientific community who took time to reach out to their elected officials in 2025 and contributed to the development of the federation’s science policy statements.