It’s pretty obvious at this point that the Trump administration is waging a full-scale assault on US science. It has proposed budgets that would be catastrophic, stopped the flow of research funds to a number of universities, and sought to exert unprecedented political control over what funding is distributed. Money has been repeatedly delayed as grants have been checked and rechecked for ideological issues. And all of that is before we get to the instances where the administration has attempted to undermine specific scientific results.

But, somewhat unexpectedly, everything isn’t currently dark for US-based scientists, as recent budget appropriations in the Senate have ignored Trump’s requests (and budget guidance passed by the Senate itself) and have funded research at levels similar to previous years. That funding may ultimately set up a confrontation between a Congress that wants to fund science, and a president who has little interest in doing so—a confrontation the administration appears to be preparing for.

Project 2025 and science

The president himself appears to be completely indifferent to science, being willing to simply make things up as needed, with no regard for evidence. Instead, most of the attacks on research funding have come from a combination of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The latter is helmed by Russell Vought, who helped produce the Project 2025 document that outlined many of the actions taken by the new administration.

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Origianl Creator:
John Timmer

Original Link: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/analysis-funding-science-at-past-levels-is-only-half-the-battle/
Originally Posted: Tue, 19 Aug 2025 18:13:29 +0000