On Saturday, August 8th, the Senate passed a continuing resolution which includes the language blocking implementation of changes to UG through December 11th, the expiration of the continuing resolution. According to Politico's reporting, the White House supports this CR over the House version of the CR which does not have the UG implementation blocking language. Next steps are that the House will have to pass the Senate version of the CR when the House reconvenes the week of August 31st, and then the President can sign it into law. If the House doesn't pass the Senate version of the CR that week, the nation will have to wait until the Senate is back in session the week of September 14th to figure out what will happen on October 1 when the fiscal year ends.
Congress moves early on a continuing resolution and a temporary pause to the OMB grants rule
With FY2026 ending on September 30, Congress is moving unusually early to reduce the risk of a government shutdown during the fall campaign season. The House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR) into December 2026 before leaving town last week for its August recess. Senate leaders subsequently announced a bipartisan agreement on a different version of a CR that would continue federal funding through December 11, 2026. The Senate proposal also would prevent the Office of Management and Budget's proposed Uniform Guidance revisions from taking effect for the duration of the CR, even if OMB finalizes the rule sooner (link). As of August 7, the Senate has not voted to pass its version of the CR, although some Senate Republicans have vowed to keep the Senate in session until the Senate passes its CR. Even if the Senate succeeds, the House and Senate would still need to reconcile their competing versions of the CR and President Trump would need to sign the reconciled version before it would become law and go into effect.
The House also passed a $93 billion reconciliation package before leaving Washington, but its path in the Senate remains uncertain (link). The federal debt limit has re-entered the conversation as lawmakers consider whether to address it through reconciliation or through a later bipartisan agreement. As a reminder, Congress occasionally needs to raise the amount of debt the United States is permitted to take on in order to avoid the nation defaulting on its debt. Unless the debt limit is raised through reconciliation legislation, which requires only 51 votes for passage, Senate passage would require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, giving the minority party leverage to seek concessions.
White House releases FY2028 research and development priorities
The White House Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy have released the annual memorandum that directs federal agencies in developing their Fiscal Year 2028 (FY2028) research and development budget proposals. The memo emphasizes artificial intelligence-enabled science, national security, energy dominance, biotechnology, quantum information science, advanced manufacturing, and stronger connections among research, commercialization, and workforce development. Although the memorandum does not guarantee that particular programs will appear in agency budget requests, it is an early signal of how the Administration wants agencies to frame upcoming investments. Read the FY2028 R&D priorities memorandum. Please see the December 2025 Federal Pulse for more information about how research organizations can use the annual R&D priorities memorandum to anticipate agency direction and position institutional capabilities.
Grant termination authority and political screening remain contested
Federal courts, agencies, Congress, and grant recipients continue to test the legal boundaries of award termination and political review. A federal court recently held that the current Uniform Guidance does not allow agencies to terminate existing grants solely because those awards no longer align with priorities adopted after the awards were made (link). The ruling applies directly to the plaintiff states and does not itself restore all previously terminated funding.
Meanwhile, court filings indicate that the U.S. Department of Energy canceled grants based solely on whether the state in which a project was located voted for President Trump (link), prompting 39 Democratic Senators to seek reinstatement of the awards. The National Institutes of Health is testing additional legal pathways for ending grants that conflict with Administration priorities (link). Finally, federal agencies have disclosed keyword lists used to flag proposals and awards for additional review or termination (link). For research administrators, the practical lesson is to preserve award documents and contemporaneous program materials, document communications with agencies, and involve legal counsel and government relations colleagues promptly when an award is delayed, suspended, or terminated.
Relevant Articles & Resources
NSF Notice on Prohibited Collaborations with U.S. Restricted Parties
NSF provides advance notice of a forthcoming policy prohibiting certain collaborations, appointments, and research support involving entities on federal restricted-party lists. The notice is especially relevant for organizations reviewing international partnerships and preparing institutional certification processes.
NIH Request for Information on Measuring and Rewarding Scientific Impact
NIH is seeking input on how it should measure and reward scientific impact, including reproducibility, data and software sharing, training, collaboration, translation, foundational research, and public benefit. Responses are due August 19, 2026.
A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards
The Department of Education asks university presidents and governing boards to publish statements before the end of 2026 addressing institutional values and planned reforms involving academic rigor, affordability, free speech, intellectual pluralism, foreign influence, research security, workforce needs, and alignment with national interests. This is similar to last year’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education from the Trump Administration which ultimately was rejected by all of the institutions that were invited to sign it.
COGR July 2026 Update
This monthly policy update provides a consolidated review of Uniform Guidance, federal research litigation, research security, foreign collaboration, indirect cost, and agency-specific policy developments affecting sponsored research.
Higher Education Litigation Summary: July 2026
Thompson Coburn's monthly tracker summarizes litigation involving federal grants, research funding, institutional policy, international students, civil rights, and other higher education matters, including evolving jurisdictional questions in grant-termination cases.
NIH Replaces Letters of Support with Letters of Collaboration
NIH is replacing application letters of support with a more standardized letter-of-collaboration format modeled on NSF practice. The change is intended to reduce applicant burden and clarify the role of collaborators in proposed projects.
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