Several executive orders (EOs) have been issued that address federally funded research. Copies of EOs are posted on the White House’s News page.
The January 27 funding freeze, Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies to Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs has been temporarily halted in court pending litigation and rescinded. Litigation continues with respect to the Memorandum.
On February 7, NIH issued Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates, announcing its new policy of imposing a 15% indirect cost rate cap for all new and current grants after February 10, 2025. On February 10, the Massachusetts Attorney General, in conjunction with 21 other states, filed suit in federal court to block implementation of the recent guidance from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) targeting a reduction in indirect cost recovery rate (IDC). Separately, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and several co-plaintiffs (PDF), as well as the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), along with named research universities (PDF), also filed suit to stop implementation of the guidance. As part of the ACE lawsuit, Harvard University, alongside other affected institutions, filed a declaration (PDF) outlining the impact that the proposed change would have on research. On the evening of February 10, the U.S. District Court issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts et al. and AAMC et al. cases blocking for now the implementation of the proposed changes, with further consideration of the legal issues at hearings in the coming days and weeks.