Human Development

Jun 4, 2026 Stephen Holmes

A draft rule from US President Donald Trump’s White House Office of Management and Budget would subject all scientific research funding to the whims of political appointees, further undercutting a pillar of American power. The goal is to foreclose any future that is plural, contestable, and beyond the president’s control.

PARIS—On May 29, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a 412-page rule that would place scientific research largely under the supervision of political appointees. Peer review—the mechanism by which the United States has allocated research funding since World War II—is to be reduced to an “advisory” role, with the appointees, not scientists or program officers, personally approving every discretionary grant.