Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The White House budget office has ordered a pause of all federal grants and loans, a sweeping move that could impact tech and science programs across the country.
Why it matters: Those efforts could get caught in the crosshairs despite being at the center of a bipartisan strategy to beat China in a global tech race.
Zoom in: The National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology have grant programs focused on artificial intelligence and emerging tech R&D that could be at risk.
- NSF and the Energy Department have already started to announce National AI Research Resource recipients and were looking to expand opportunities, including to environmental projects.
- In an executive order issued last week, Trump called for accelerating research through NAIRR, though specific projects related to the environment, for example, could be at risk under this order.
- NIST also has a grant program underway to see how AI can strengthen U.S. manufacturing and supply chains that it anticipated would dole out $70 million over a five-year period.
Driving the news: The Office of Management and Budget memo states that the pause will be effective as of 5pm ET Tuesday.
- "This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President's priorities," the memo states.
- The freeze is aimed at stopping funding for policies that President Trump has targeted through executive orders, "including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal."
State of play: NSF has canceled review panels for research applications this week, per a spokesperson.
- "All review panels scheduled for the remainder of this week, 1/28-1/31 will be rescheduled to a future date as appropriate," the agency spokesperson said in a statement.
- "This will allow the agency to make the best use of everyone's time and resources as we continue to develop guidance to ensure compliance with the recent executive orders."
What they're saying: "This Administration's actions will have far-reaching consequences for nearly all federal programs and activities," Democratic appropriators Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Patty Murray wrote in a letter to OMB acting director Matthew Vaeth on Monday night.
