Progress is Powerful, Persistence is Key
The House passed the Senate version of a Continuing Resolution (CR) on Tuesday, which extends Fiscal Year 2026 funding until Dec. 11 to give appropriators more time to negotiate FY27 appropriations. As previously reported, the CR contains a welcome provision preventing the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) from finalizing its proposed rule on federal grantmaking while the CR is in effect. The president has signed this bill into law. See our statement. More information and resources on the proposed rule are here.
CRs Are Not the Answer: It is important to note that the OMB provision is to be applauded, but CRs themselves are bad business. See our explainer. While a CR was all but inevitable in this fraught election year, we will be providing advocacy opportunities in future letters against a full-year CR.
Russ’s Corner
The congressional block on OMB finalizing its proposed rule until Dec. 11 at the earliest was a longshot that became a reality.
It’s your win.
We all know we have more work to do because a delay is not a final decision, and because the proposed governmentwide rule is not the only threat to an effective research enterprise. Research policy changes, grant terminations, and destabilizing funding delays are a current fact of life. We must not let our focus on the proposed rule compromise our efforts to stop agency-by-agency actions that contravene congressional intent, hamstring scientific progress, and rob patients of hope.
NSF and the Department of Education have each proposed their own revisions to their grant policies that echo the OMB proposed rule’s approach to many provisions, suggesting the fight isn’t limited to a single rule at a single agency.
Research grants are still being canceled. Research!America is tracking terminated grants at NIH, and there were roughly 170 grant cancellations reported in August alone, the highest monthly total this year. The number of awarded grants tells a similar story: the total number of NIH extramural awards through July this year is running 17% below the FY22- FY24 average, underscoring how much ground has been lost.
NIH is not the only agency affected by grant slowdowns. Research!America member AcademyHealth is tracking grant cancellations at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which number 117 since July 2026. No new AHRQ grants have been awarded in FY26. Less than a month from the end of FY26, the only potential grant opportunity announced is a $32.5 million research project on school lunches that will be done in partnership with NIH. This is despite the agency receiving FY26 funding of $345 million.
The cancellations and delays are, by their nature, fragmented and hard to see in totality. They have not broken through in the media, but we know the public would be with us if it became aware. In our national survey earlier this year, only half of Americans said they feel informed about canceled grants or budget cuts to medical research. In the same poll, 83% of Americans who felt informed of the cuts said they were concerned about the disruptions to research. Research!America is working with other stakeholders inside and outside the research ecosystem to compile and then shed light on these harms.
More to come and, as always, contact us at [email protected] if we can assist your advocacy efforts.
Russ
2026 National Health Research Forum: Please join us for our 31st National Health Research Forum on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, D.C. You won’t want to miss all the forum has to offer, including a featured panel discussion on safeguarding America’s leadership in global R&D and clinical innovation. The panel will include leading voices from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotech, the FDA, the Epilepsy Foundation, and Flagship Pioneering. More special guests to be announced soon! The Forum is free, but space is limited, so secure your spot today.
Hear from BARDA Leadership: If you are with a Research!America alliance member organization, join us on Thursday, Sept. 24, from 11 a.m. to noon ET for a Zoom fireside chat with Gary Disbrow, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), moderated by Research!America President and CEO Russ Paulsen.
If you are affiliated with a Research!America member organization, please email Jacqueline Lagoy for the Zoom registration link. More on our webinars can be found here.
Input on Sharing Study Results: NIH is seeking public comment on a draft policy that is intended to increase research transparency by requiring summary-level results from NIH-supported clinical research to be shared with study participants. Comments are due Oct. 26 and may be submitted here.
Join Research!America: If you haven’t already, join our multi-sector alliance! The membership process is straightforward, the benefits are compelling, and your participation informs and intensifies our community’s influence on and off Capitol Hill. Email Associate Director of Membership and Development Operations Donald Cook for more information.