A new federal rule would give political appointees the power to approve or kill any research grant. See what it means for black women and how to make your voice heard.
Let us tell you a quiet truth about how progress happens.
Almost everything we know about black women’s health, the maternal mortality numbers we cite, the decades-long Black Women’s Health Study that has tracked tens of thousands of us since 1995, the studies that show our pain is real and our risks are higher, exist because independent scientists were free to ask tough questions and follow the evidence wherever it led. Federal research dollars made this possible. And for decades, decisions about which studies to fund were made by panels of experts who judged the science on its merits, not its politics.
This is about to change unless we act.
What is actually being proposed
In late May, the federal Office of Management and Budget released a 412-page proposed rule with a boring name and enormous scope. It’s called the Federal Financial Aid Regulation, and it would rewrite the rules for all government research awards, at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and across the board.
Here is his heart. Currently, when scientists apply for federal funding, their proposals go through peer review, where other experts in the field evaluate the science. Based on this proposal, this expert review will be reduced to a proposal. The final decision on each grant will go to senior political appointees, who will have to sign off before any money is awarded. The rule asks them to certify that the research will advance the administration’s policy priorities.
Read it again. The question would no longer be just “is this good science that could save lives.” The question would be “does this serve the priorities of whoever happens to be in power.”
And it doesn’t stop there. The proposal would allow officials to end grants already in progress at any time simply by saying the work no longer fits the agency’s priorities, with no real recourse. It will allow those reviewing your application to weigh your activities outside the lab, including your advocacy and the organizations you belong to. And it would formally ban federally funded research on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Because this lands directly on us
Sit with that last part for a moment, because this is where it stops being abstract.
The reason organizations like ours exist is that the health care system has not served black women equally and someone needed to study why and demand better. Research on inequalities, on why our maternal mortality rate is multiple, on why our pain is dismissed, on why so few of us who could benefit from certain treatments ever receive them, this is justice research. This is the work that this rule is designed to discourage and compensate for.
Just this week we shared findings from a national survey of nearly 3,900 mothers that showed black women face the greatest barriers and worst outcomes in childbirth. This kind of data is exactly what drives policy and saves lives. Now imagine that future studies like this have to first clear a political gatekeeper, someone who can decide that the question of race and inequality is no longer a priority.
The part about weighing an applicant’s advocacy and associations should put each of us at ease, too. The investigators we work with speak, march, testify and tell the truth. A rule that invites officials to claim against them is not about science. It’s about silence.
They have an explanation. He can’t stand it.
The administration says it’s about transparency, accountability and protecting taxpayer dollars from being wasted. The management of public money is a fair thing to want, and no one is advocating the elimination of real fraud.
But you don’t fix waste by giving political appointees veto power over the questions science is allowed to ask. The leading voices in public health have not minced their words. The head of the American Public Health Association warned that the proposal could destroy research in this country. Independent scientific groups have characterized it as an escalation of an ongoing attack on their work. When the people who do this work are so concerned, we listen.
The deeper danger is simple. Science that must please the powerful is no longer science. It’s a press release. And the communities that have always had to fight the hardest to study them, believe them, and deal with them are the first to be written off when politics decides what counts as a priority.
The window closes and your voice is the lever
Here is the part that matters most, so read carefully.
This is a proposed rule, not yet final. By law, the government must open it up for public comment and consider what’s coming before moving forward. This comment period ends on July 13. The budget agency wants to be done by October. With little chance of Congress intervening, public comment is the main avenue to push back, and each comment becomes part of the permanent legal record.
This means your words carry real weight. Not a like, not a repost, not a real comment on the record.
Here’s how to measure yours:
- Go to regulations.gov docket number OMB-2026-0034-0001
- Click the button to submit a comment.
- Write in your own words. Personal, specific comments matter far more than copycat letters. Share who you are, why federal health research matters to you or your community, and what you’ll lose if politics decides which studies get funded. If you or someone you love has been touched by a condition that research has helped uncover or treat, say so.
- Submit before the July 13, 2026 deadline.
It takes ten minutes. Generations of black women have fought for the right to be seen by science. Spending ten minutes defending ourselves is the least we can do, and right now it’s one of the most powerful things we can do.
This is the assignment
We have been here before, in different forms, in every era of this work. People in power decide that our health is not a priority, and we organize, file, and refuse to disappear. This is that moment again, with a calendar attached to it.
Add your voice before July 13th. Forward it to three women who need to learn. And remember why this fight is worth it. Our health is our strength and the truth about our bodies is worth protecting from anyone who would rather we stop asking the question.
Learn more and submit your comment at regulations.gov, docket OMB-2026-0034-0001, by July 13, 2026.
