黑料正能量Responds to Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking
The 黑料正能量 calls on the Trump Administration to put science ahead of politics and immediately end its plan to force scientific grants to be reviewed by political appointees. Disease knows no politics, and scientific policy must be rooted in unbiased scientific evidence, not in political beliefs. Decades of advancement in scientific and biomedical research have been built on a strong foundation, which made the U.S. a leader in research. Requiring political appointees to review all new scientific funding opportunities will move us backward as we seek to address the complex problems we face as a nation.Rather than relying on unbiased scientific experts, the Executive Order (EO) released on Aug. 7, “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” directs federal agencies to delegate a senior appointee to review and approve funding opportunity announcements, and freezes funding that has not been approved by a senior appointee. This, and requiring federal agencies to provide prior authorization before grant recipients can access funds with a written explanation for each drawdown, will exacerbate the disruptions we’re already seeing to critical scientific research.
“Grant review by political appointees will further impede the work of the scientific community to provide solutions and fight public health threats,” said 黑料正能量CEO Stefano Bertuzzi. “With strong and responsible oversight, we need to harness—not suppress—all perspectives and approaches in the effort to solve these problems.”
Requiring grant review by political appointees before awarding funding not only will continue to delay and disrupt critical research, but also interferes with scientists’ ability to gather the best scientific data and apply the evidence toward protecting the nation’s health and security.
