The White House is trying to seize control of federal grantmaking after Congress already blocked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)’s proposed grant rule through December 11. The administration is trying to implement the OMB proposal at the Education Department and paused an executive order that would give political appointees a veto over National Institutes of Health grants―for now.

Community schools or aftercare programs could see their funding cut “for convenience.” The NIH order would add a political review after the scientific merit process Congress required by law. Research into cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and other diseases could be delayed, rewritten, or killed because it does not match the president’s agenda.

This is the same fight as the May 29 OMB proposal to overhaul the Uniform Guidance. That rule would let political appointees judge more than $1 trillion a year in grants for housing, health care, education, food assistance, shelter, disaster recovery, and research against shifting White House priorities. Agencies could withhold funding indefinitely, terminate grants without cause, and change terms after work has begun.

The Coalition on Human Needs helped mobilize 1,930 organizations to tell OMB to withdraw that rule, and we’re continuing to engage our networks to fight back. Our voices matter―which is why it is important that Congress hear from you. Congress must finish the job before the December 11 protection expires. Lawmakers should block the proposed OMB regulation, and any effort by federal agencies to implement similar changes, in any must-pass legislation this year.

Click “Start Writing” to tell your members of Congress to protect NIH research, defend human needs funding, and stop political control of federal grants.