Outside Topic US pause of Federal grants & loans - Printable Version
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US pause of Federal grants & loans - M T - 01-28-2025
Admins, obviously this discussion can turn political. Please watch it closely.
CNN: "The White House budget office has ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum sent Monday."
BBC: "It says this encompasses "financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal"."
Snippets from the Stanford 2024 Annual Budget
Quote:The $895 million in total student financial aid and graduate support comes from ....and $140 million from grants and contracts. ...
For the years ended August 31, 2024 and 2023, federal sponsored support was $1.8 billion and
$1.6 billion, respectively.
I suspect SLAC's funding is probably a contract, not a grant. It is unclear how much of that federal sponsored support is in the form of contracts versus grants.
As I read the coverage, this pause would include all grants to (at least private) universities including for education, research, medical treatments, public safety, community outreach,, etc.
The wording leaves open the possibility that state or city universities and schools may not be affected. I don't know about charter schools that may, say, get support for school lunches.
Leaders of both major parties have responded. "The top Democratic appropriators in Congress - Washington Senator Patty Murray and Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro - sent a letter to the White House Monday evening expressing their "extreme alarm" with the memo."
It appears this is intended to pause the flow of money, whether it was already promised or not. Even if the wording doesn't block funding already promised, it appears it may stop agencies from doing what is necessary to deliver the money.
Beyond the immediate cash-flow issues, it seems the implication is that already-approved funding may be cut by this administration. Even if the courts rule against the administration failing to execute existing laws, the delays while this is adjudicated may cause severe financial issues for organizations and individuals. Reapplying for funds will be costly (paid by the university) and time consuming. Staff that were paid by federal grants will have to be supported by the university until funding either resumes or new funding is acquired months down the road.
The impact on Stanford, and similar universities, that have NIH or other agency grants, will be dramatic if this pause lasts for even a week. Stanford may have a bigger war chest that other universities, but it also has a bigger exposure to this.
I would think the Universities will go immediately into a very conservative fiscal mode, trickling down the cessation of expenditures and probably a hiring freeze, or job terminations. I could imagine that the athletic department would also be asked to cut back on spending.
RE: US pause of Federal grants & loans - needle - 01-28-2025
Schools have previously dealt w/gov shutdowns. It sucks but I doubt anyone at Stanford is panicking.
Yes, some research dollars may get cut but I suspect that will trigger a lengthy legal battle
https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Government-Shutdowns-and-Higher-Education.aspx
RE: US pause of Federal grants & loans - dabigv13 - 01-28-2025
Blatantly this is illegal impoundment of money appropriated by Congress. If Congress does not have the power of the purse, then we are living in a dictatorship.
RE: US pause of Federal grants & loans - fullmetal - 01-28-2025
Quote:The claim followed rumors that meetings of researchers at the National Institutes of Health had been canceled. In these meetings, known as review-panel or study-section meetings and advisory councils, experts of any given discipline get together to decide which research projects will receive grants from the agency. These meetings are often scheduled a year in advance, with sometimes dozens of participants, which means they can be difficult to reschedule. Canceling these meetings without rescheduling them can result in a research funding freeze.
Quote:(Bluesky / @medickimw.bsky.social)
The posts read:
Original post: Colleague of mine just got back from zoom study section saying the SRO [scientific review officer] shut down the meeting while they were in the middle of discussing grants, saying some executive order wouldn't let them continue. l'm just wondering if anyone else has any info on this. At first it sounded like "diversity" initiatives might have been a factor, but now I'm wondering if there's a wider freeze. Any other tips out there?
Response: My colleague was in a virtual study section that was similarly shut down by the SRO (perhaps the same one, or this is a wider issue). Someone followed up via email that the SRO was a DEI hire and was placed on leave immediately today so the meeting had to end. This is bananas.
Quote:Science Magazine published a report on Jan. 22, 2025, according to which at least one meeting had been cut short and another had been canceled moments before it was due to start:https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/28/trump-nih-cancer-research/
Today, for example, officials halted midstream a training workshop for junior scientists, called off a workshop on adolescent learning minutes before it was to begin, and canceled meetings of two advisory councils. Panels that were scheduled to review grant proposals also received eleventh-hour word that they wouldn't be meeting.
Meetings to determine allocation of grant money have been canceled. It's not clear that already-awarded grants are having their funds terminated, although:
Quote:“To the extent required by law,” agencies may also take “certain administrative actions” like closing out grants, it states.https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/politics/white-house-pauses-federal-grants-loan-disbursement/index.html
The memo also says:
Quote:Refrain from publicly issuing any documents (e.g., regulation, guidance, notice, grant announcement) or communication (e.g., social media, websites, press releases, and communication using listservs) until it has been reviewed and approved by a presidential appointee," through February 1.
RE: US pause of Federal grants & loans - Canalejas - 01-28-2025
I guess that explains …
https://stanforddaily.com/2025/01/26/stanford-to-review-dei-programs/
RE: US pause of Federal grants & loans - Bampa - 01-28-2025
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
RE: US pause of Federal grants & loans - BostonCard - 01-28-2025
I'm putting a pause on this thread pending further deliberation by the mods.
BC