Trump Administration Proposes New US Research Funding Rules That Would Allow Grant Cancellation At Any Time

The administration has proposed new rules that would make peer review optional for federal research grants and allow political staff to screen projects for "forbidden topics" before funding approval. The changes would give agencies unprecedented power to cancel grants at any time, potentially undermining the traditional scientific review process that has governed federal research funding for decades.

Why it matters: Tech and AI researchers depend on federal funding, and changes to grant approval processes could reshape which AI research gets funded and how scientific integrity is maintained in government-supported innovation.