CSLDF Opposes Trump Administration’s Attempts to Politicize Federal Grants
Yesterday, the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund submitted a comment to the Office of Management and Budget, opposing its proposed rule amending the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance (“Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule raises serious First Amendment concerns for researchers and universities, among a host of other issues. If adopted, it would compromise scientific integrity and undermine the ability of climate scientists to do their work without political interference.
The Proposed Rule would make sweeping and detrimental changes to how federal research grants are awarded and administered. Most significantly, it would establish a new “Pre-Issuance Review” process in which a political appointee, rather than the expert peer reviewers who have traditionally evaluated grant applications on their merits, would have final say over whether a proposal is funded. Reviewers would be directed to weigh whether an award “demonstrably advance[s] the President’s policy priorities,” a standard likely to bear most heavily on climate science and other fields of research this administration has already moved to defund and dismiss.
The Proposed Rule would also change how researchers may use grant funds once awarded. It would restrict conference attendance without advanced, individualized agency approval. It would also limit funds meant for publishing results, severely impairing a researcher’s ability to keep the scientific community and general public informed. Taken together, these changes would harm critical activities fundamental to the process of scholarship that have traditionally been left to researchers’ own judgment.
These provisions are antithetical to long-recognized First Amendment protections for academic freedom. Conditioning federal funding on aligning with a particular administration’s policy views, rather than on scientific merit, departs from the constitutional principles that have long-shielded research from political control. The Proposed Rule risks doing lasting damage to scientific inquiry in this country, as well as our ability to understand and respond to a changing climate. We have asked OMB to withdraw the proposed rule.