Science policy this week: Feb. 10, 2025

What’s Ahead

A building on NIH’s campus in Maryland.

Lydia Polimeni / NIH

22 states sue Trump administration over NIH overhead cuts

A coalition of 22 state attorneys general is suing the Trump administration over its plans to slash funds provided by the National Institutes of Health to cover grantees’ overhead costs. The lawsuit was filed today in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. NIH announced plans last Friday to reduce the amount it reimburses universities and medical centers for indirect research costs to 15%, a dramatic cut from current levels. The average indirect cost rate reported by NIH is around 28%, with some institutions negotiating rates of over 50%. The new rate is effective today for both new and existing grants.

Indirect costs, also known as facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, include expenses such as maintenance of lab facilities, IT services, and administrative support. NIH says the new 15% rate will save the government $4 billion annually. Meanwhile, university groups and research organizations have widely criticized the move, stating it will require them to immediately shoulder huge costs and will harm the progress of medical research. “NIH slashing the reimbursement of research costs will slow and limit medical breakthroughs that cure cancer and address chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease,” said Mark Becker, president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities in a statement on Friday. “Let there be no mistake: this is a direct and massive cut to lifesaving medical research. We urge the administration to reconsider this self-defeating action.”

Though NIH argues it has regulatory authority to unilaterally lower the indirect cost rate, the lawsuit filed today by state AGs argues the agency’s actions are unlawful and violate the Administrative Procedure Act in multiple ways. The lawsuit notes that starting in 2017 Congress enacted bipartisan legislation that prevents NIH from deviating from negotiated indirect costs — an action taken in response to the first Trump administration’s proposal to cap NIH’s indirect cost rate at 10%. Since then, the idea of significantly cutting indirect costs has continued to circulate in Republican circles, including in the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025. However, some Republicans have been vocal in opposing proposed cuts to indirect cost rates in the past, namely Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), a longtime NIH appropriator who now chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

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Senate reviewing new wave of DOE and Commerce nominees

President Donald Trump submitted nominations for various significant positions at the Commerce and Energy departments last week. The nominees include:

Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Jacobs was the acting head of NOAA during the “sharpiegate” episode in Trump’s first term.
Vice Admiral Scott Pappano to be the principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Pappano has a background in nuclear engineering and currently is the Navy’s deputy assistant secretary for research, development, and acquisition.
Matthew Napoli to lead NNSA’s nuclear nonproliferation programs. Napoli is a former Navy officer who spent many years in the agency’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.
Kyle Haustveit to be the head of fossil energy at the Department of Energy. Haustveit is a petroleum engineer with Devon Energy.
Theodore Garrish to be the head of nuclear energy at DOE. Garrish served in the same role during the Reagan administration.
Conner Prochaska to lead the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at DOE. Prochaska was ARPA-E’s chief of staff during the first Trump administration and later became DOE’s chief commercialization officer.
Jeffrey Kessler to lead the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which implements export controls. Kessler served as the assistant secretary for enforcement and compliance at the department during Trump’s first term.
Arielle Roth to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Roth is policy director for telecommunications for Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Four lab heads to testify as new energy secretary settles in

The House Science Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the Department of Energy national labs. The witnesses are the directors of Argonne, Idaho, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore National Labs. The hearing comes on the heels of newly confirmed Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s order last week outlining nine priority areas for DOE, one of which identifies focus areas for R&D and launches a portfolio review.

“We must focus our time and resources on technologies that will advance basic science, grow America’s scientific leadership, reduce costs for American families, strengthen the reliability of our energy system, and bolster America’s manufacturing competitiveness and supply chain security. As such, the department’s R&D efforts will prioritize affordable, reliable, and secure energy technologies, including fossil fuels, advanced nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower,” the order states. “The department must also prioritize true technological breakthroughs — such as nuclear fusion, high-performance computing, quantum computing, and AI — to maintain America’s global competitiveness. To that end, the department will comprehensively review its R&D portfolio. As part of that review, the department will rigorously enforce project milestones to ensure that taxpayer resources are allocated appropriately and cost-effectively consistent with the law,” the order continues.

APS suggests cautious R&D on carbon dioxide removal

The American Physical Society released a report last month that recommends cautiously pursuing R&D on a variety of methods for removing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere while stressing that such approaches have extensive resource requirements and should not be viewed as an alternative to reducing emissions. The report highlights, for instance, the energy intensity of engineered approaches, such as direct air capture using chemical processes, and the substantial land area needed for natural processes that capture carbon in plant matter or rocks. Accordingly, it recommends that funding agencies request that CO2 removal research proposals include estimates for energy and land needs. (APS is an AIP Member Society.)

The report also highlights the need for economic policies that balance the costs and benefits of carbon-removal strategies, such as by imposing a cost for carbon emissions that reflects the expense of large-scale carbon removal technologies. For example, chemical direct air capture at scale is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars per gigaton of CO2, the report states. Despite these high costs, the report anticipates that atmospheric carbon removal on the scale of 1-20 gigatons per year may be necessary by later this century to avoid a surface temperature rise of more than 2 °C, even when combined with sharp emissions reductions.

Scientists converge in Boston for AAAS meeting

The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science will take place in Boston this Thursday through Sunday with the theme “science shaping tomorrow.” AAAS President Willie May, who formerly led the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will offer a keynote on Thursday. A Friday plenary session discussing “a vision for American science and technology” will feature former National Science Foundation Director France Córdova, former White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier, National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt, and AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh. All are members of a task force that is preparing to pitch S&T policy ideas to the Trump administration. A Saturday plenary session on “investing to shape tomorrow’s science” will feature former National Institutes of Health Director Monica Bertagnolli, as well as representatives from government research agencies in the UK, EU, and South Africa.

Also on our radar

President Trump has ordered a review of U.S. participation in the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The U.S. withdrew from UNESCO during Trump’s first administration but rejoined under Biden in 2023.
OSTP is seeking public input to develop an AI action plan as directed by Trump’s executive order. Submissions are due March 15.
A new study on ways to apply AI foundation models to DOE research will hold its first public meeting on Tuesday, featuring speakers from the DOE Office of Science and NNSA.
The head of NSF’s Arctic Sciences program will testify at a Wednesday hearing on the strategic significance of Greenland for the U.S. held by the Senate Commerce Committee.
NSF’s governing board will meet in an open session today to discuss the recapitalization of the Summit research station in Greenland. The board will also meet in closed session on Tuesday.
Senate Republicans have released an outline of filibuster-evading legislation that they plan to use to advance their priorities in tax, immigration, defense, and energy policy. The Senate Budget Committee will meet to amend the legislation on Wednesday and Thursday.