White House OMB Proposes Grant Rule Replacing Merit Review With Political Review Ahead of June 21 Solstice
Updated
Updated · The Planetary Society · Jun 18
White House OMB Proposes Grant Rule Replacing Merit Review With Political Review Ahead of June 21 Solstice
2 articles · Updated · The Planetary Society · Jun 18
Summary
The White House Office of Management and Budget has released a proposed rule that would overhaul federal grant management by replacing merit-based peer review with partisan political review.
The Planetary Society said the change could stifle U.S. science and urged Americans to submit comments explaining how politicized grant decisions would harm research.
The appeal appeared in the group’s June 18 newsletter alongside advocacy tied to NASA science funding, signaling broader concern that federal science support is again under pressure.
The proposed rule now opens a new front in the debate over how Washington allocates research money, with implications extending beyond space science to federally funded research across the U.S.
As its 2028 launch nears, how will NASA's Dragonfly drone hunt for alien life that isn't even based on water?
If we shatter an incoming asteroid with nuclear weapons, what stops a radioactive debris cloud from becoming an even greater threat to Earth?
The 2026 OMB Rule: Politicizing Federal Grantmaking and Its Threat to U.S. Science
Overview
On May 29, 2026, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed a major overhaul of federal grantmaking, aiming to shift decision-making power from traditional merit-based peer review to senior political appointees. Under this plan, all discretionary grants would require a pre-issuance review by political appointees to ensure alignment with the President’s policy priorities, reducing scientific peer review to an advisory role. The proposed changes, which affect all federal agencies and research institutions, are open for public comment, as the OMB seeks feedback before finalizing the new rules.