Congressional leaders oppose White House plan for political control of NIH grants

Bipartisan congressional leaders, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins and Ranking Member Patty Murray, are strongly opposing a drafted Trump administration executive order. The order would establish an external committee of political appointees, including OMB Director Russell Vought, with the power to veto National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants that conflict with the president's agenda. Lawmakers argue this politicizes scientific research, while a stopgap funding bill passed on September 2, 2026, already blocks similar OMB rules.

White House grant control proposal

• ▪The second Trump administration previously introduced a proposed rule in June 2026 that sought to de-emphasize peer review and grant political appointees broad authority to approve federal research grants
• ▪The Trump administration is drafting an executive order to give political appointees more control over the National Institutes of Health's grant approval process

Congressional opposition from leaders

• ▪The stopgap government funding bill signed into law on September 2, 2026, contains a provision that blocks the Office of Management and Budget's proposed rule, rolled out in June 2026, to politicize NIH grantmaking
• ▪Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins and Ranking Member Patty Murray issued statements on September 21, 2026, opposing the White House's plans to increase political oversight of National Institutes of Health grants
• ▪Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins sent a letter on September 22, 2026, to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya urging them not to proceed with an executive order that would create an external committee of political appointees to review NIH grants

Merit-based peer review defense

• ▪Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins highlighted that the current National Institutes of Health peer-review process has contributed to 174 scientists winning Nobel Prizes and driven breakthroughs for Alzheimer's, Type 1 diabetes, and cancer
• ▪Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins stated that imposing political reviews on already-selected National Institutes of Health grant awards undermines the principle of funding research based on scientific merit rather than political ideology

OMB-NIH leadership conflict

• ▪President Donald Trump reportedly directed Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to draft an executive order that would create an external committee of political appointees to veto NIH grants, after National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya refused to cut funding for Harvard researchers
• ▪Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya clashed during a Friday meeting in the Oval Office over allegations that the National Institutes of Health was funding 'woke' initiatives