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Overview of Executive Orders and Agency Directives
Since his inauguration, President Trump has issued a significant number of federal executive orders and agency directives, many of which will affect our investigators' upcoming federal proposals and existing federal grants and contracts. While some agencies have begun issuing updates, many others are still in the process of determining how they will implement these E.O.s and directives. As a result, there is a great deal of speculation about the implications of the changes, and we understand that many of our investigators have questions and concerns about how to move forward with their proposals and grants and contracts.
Rice University leadership is closely monitoring these developments and will update this web page as the White House and federal agencies release additional guidance.
Please visit this page often. It is important that you stay informed to ensure that you remain compliant with all guidance. The information below will help you stay on top of, understand, and gain insight into the changes and how they will affect your proposals and grants and contracts.
Latest Status Update (February 11, 2025)
On February 7, the Director of NIH announced that the agency would cut F&A/indirect cost rates significantly and immediately. Rice’s unique F&A/indirect cost rate (56.5%) is negotiated with federal agencies, and generally applies to all federal grants. In the February 7 memo, however, the NIH announced that, effective immediately, the F&A rate for all existing grants, to all NIH-funded institutions, would be reduced to 15%. Relatedly, it announced that, effective February 10, the F&A rate for new grants would be reduced to 15%. If implemented, both moves could certainly impact NIH grant recipients and subrecipients in the current fiscal year and future years. Late last night, however, a federal court in Boston issued an order that temporarily prevents the NIH from cutting these rates for any institution. Therefore, the Office of Research advises that, until further notice, all submissions for new NIH grants should continue to propose the normal (56.5%) indirect cost rate. The judge's order is valid until at least February 21. That day, the judge will decide whether to extend the block on NIH's plans for additional days or indefinitely.
As we can imagine, these lawsuits do have deeper funding implications. For example, they will inevitably affect the likelihood that other federal agencies, including the NSF, DoD, and DOE, will seek to impose cuts like the NIH has attempted. On these and other matters, we'll keep you updated as we learn more.
Questions? We'll continue updating you as we learn more. Please feel free to send any questions to osp@rice.edu or, for legal advice, to omar.syed@rice.edu or jlc@rice.edu.
Understanding Executive Orders
- Trump is signing a flurry of executive orders. Here's how those work (Rachel Treisman, NPR, January 21, 2025)
- Executive Orders: An Introduction (Congressional Research Service, March 29, 2021)
- Decision Tree for DEIA language in grants
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- Start
- Does the title or abstract contain DEIA keywords? Check if the title contains any of the ‘trigger’ terms referred to in Executive Order: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.
- Yes Retain flag, DEIA language found (Category 3)
- NoIf no, continue reviewing award.
- Does the project summary contain DEIA keywords? Check if the title contains any of the ‘trigger’ terms referred to in Executive Order: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.
- Does the title or abstract contain DEIA keywords? Check if the title contains any of the ‘trigger’ terms referred to in Executive Order: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.
- Start
General Information and Resources on Federal Executive Orders
- Council on Governmental Relations (COGR)
- Administration Transition Information and Resources (comprensive resource)
- Summary of Executive Orders (second version, released January 28, 2025)
- White House Actions and Executive Orders
- Legal Advice at Rice: Office of General Counsel
- Immigration Enforcement
Federal Agency Directives
This list of federal agency directives will be updated on a daily basis.
- U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Executive Order Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid (January 24, 2025)
- U.S. Department of Education (ED)
- U.S. Department of Education Takes Action to Eliminate DEI (January 23, 2025)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Immediate Pause on Issuing Documents and Public Communications—Action (January 21, 2025)
- U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- Initial Guidance Regarding Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Executive Orders (January 21, 2025)
- Amendment 109: Removing DEIA Requirements from ROSES-2024 (January 20, 2025)
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Federal Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order directing federal grant-making agencies, including NSF, “...not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate... awards and obligations to provide federal financial assistance to the States, and... not impede the States’ access to such awards and obligations, except on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms. Although the language of the TRO is directed at State institutions, the Department of Justice has determined that it applies to all NSF award recipients. You can review the TRO here.
- Notice of Court Order (temporary restraining order; January 31, 2025)
- NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders (January 29, 2025)
- Message to the Principal Investigator Community (January 28, 2025)
Recent Articles
February 12, 2025
- Tracking the lawsuits against Trump's agenda (Alex Lemonides, Seamus Hughes, Mattathias Schwartz, and Lazaro Gamio, New York Times)
- Tracking Trump’s wins and losses in court cases over his executive orders (Justin Jouvenal and Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post)
- Tracking Trump’s executive actions (Curt Merrill and Amy O'Kruk, CNN)
- Top N.I.H. official abruptly resigns as Trump orders deep cuts (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times)
- BREAKING: NIH admits funding freeze is illegal, will resume issuing grants (Judd Legum, Popular Information)
- $900 million in Institute of Education Sciences contracts axed (Ryan Quinn and Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed)
February 11, 2025
- Cruz-Led investigation uncovers $2 billion in woke DEI grants at NSF, releases full database (Press Release, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation)
- NOTE: Press release includes a link to the full database of DEI Grants from the National Science Foundation. The database delineates 3,483 NSF-funded projects with start dates between January 2021 and April 2024. Of these projects, 17 were awarded to Rice. The database categorizes what Ted Cruz, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, refers to in the Executive Summary of his report, DEI: Division, Extremism, Ideology: How the Biden-Harris NSF Politicized Science, as "questionable projects that promoted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) tenets or pushed onto science neo-Marxist perspectives about enduring class struggle" (p. 1). According to this DEI report, "The Committee grouped these grants into five categories: Status, Social Justice, Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice" (p. 1).
- You can find abstracts of all projects in the database on the Daily Wire website.
- Judge issues nationwide halt to controversial cap on NIH funding (Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Court pause on Trump cuts to medical research funds Is expanded nationwide (Christina Jewett and Teddy Rosenbluth, New York Times)
- A tenuous moment for minority-serving institutions under Trump (Sara Weissman, Inside Higher Ed)
February 10, 2025
- ‘What’s going to happen to science?’ (Mary Sue Coleman, Inside Higher Ed)
- Trump wants to cut billions in research spending. Here’s how much it might cost your university. (Dan Bauman, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- White House failed to comply with court order, judge rules (Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times)
- Judge halts NIH policy that could cost universities billions after 22 states sue to stop it (Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Judge temporarily blocks Trump cuts to medical research funding (Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Christina Jewett, New York Times)
- February Articles
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February 8, 2025
- NIH cuts billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately (Dan Diamond, Carolyn Y. Johnson, and Lena H. Sun, Washington Post)
- Trump threatened college research, culture and funding. Confusion reigns (Susan Svrluga and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post)
- NIH moves to slash funding for research, leaving universities on the hook (Katherine Knott and Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed)
February 7, 2025
- DEI legislation tracker (Chronicle Staff, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Tracking higher ed’s dismantling of DEI (Erin Gretzinger, Maggie Hicks, Christa Dutton, and Jasper Smith, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Billions of dollars are at stake under Trump’s funding freeze. What could that mean for your college? (Dan Bauman, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- ‘We’re being punished’: NIH tosses some grant applications from minority researchers (Maddie Khaw and Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Trump administration cuts put medical progress at risk, researchers say (Christina Jewett and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times)
- NIH slashes overhead payments for research, sparking outrage (David Malakoff, Science Insider)
- Deep cuts to medical research funds could hobble university budgets (Christina Jewett, New York Times)
- NIH NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
- ‘My boss was crying.’ NSF confronts potentially massive layoffs and budget cuts (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- 'Unprecedented': White House moves to control science funding worry researchers (Jonathan Lambert, NPR)
February 6, 2025
- Trump policies sow chaos, confusion across scientific community (Joel Achenbach and Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post)
- Elon Musk’s DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts (Hannah Natanson, Gerrit DeVynck, Elizabeth Dwoskin, and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post)
- Health agencies told to rank some workers as fear of layoffs grows (Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun, and Emily Davies, Washington Post)
- Trump moves to shutter environmental offices across the government (Maxine Joselow and Amudalat Ajasa, Washington Post)
- Scientists on alert as NOAA restricts contact with foreign nationals (Scott Dance, Washington Post)
- NEA nixes grant program for ‘underserved communities,’ shifting priorities (Anne Branigin, Herb Scribner, Sophia Nguyen, and Kriston Capps, Washington Post)
- Federal judge: Trump ignoring rule of law for ‘political or personal gain’ (David Nakamura, Washington Post)
- College presidents’ survey finds alarm over Trump (Josh Moody, Insider Higher Education)
- As the DEI crackdown escalates, faculty choose between silence and resistance (Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Education)
- Trump executive orders aimed at health equity, DEI worry Philadelphia health researchers (Sarah Gantz, Aubrey Whelan, Philadelphia Inquirer)
February 5, 2025
- Right-wing group publishes ‘D.E.I. Watch List’ targeting federal workers (David A. Fahrenthold, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Sharon LaFraniere, and Christina Jewett, New York Times)
- Trump orders cause chaos at science agencies (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- ‘It’s creating chaos’: College presidents weigh responses to Trump’s upheavals (David Jesse, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Trump’s immigration crackdown sparks panic, protests, and ICE impersonators (Alissa Gary and Maya Stahl, Chronicle of Higher Education)
February 4, 2025
- AAUP joins lawsuit to block Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional DEI orders (AAUP)
- Science funding agency threatened with mass layoffs (Corbin Hiar, Politio)
- Higher Ed is trapped in Trump’s chaos (Brendan Cantwell, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- ‘Enough’: Campus diversity advocates sue over Trump’s anti-DEI orders (Katherine Mangan, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- NSF reexamines existing awards to comply with Trump’s directives (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- Deaf federal workers face uncertain access following Trump’s DEIA orders (Amanda Morris, Washington Post)
- Trans health, research programs ordered to stop by Trump administration (Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post)
- Here are the words putting science in the crosshairs of Trump’s orders (Carolyn Y. Jonson, Scott Dance, and Joel Achenbach, Washington Post)
- 'So stupid!' Prof. shares government threat to halt scientific studies mentioning 'women' (David Edwards, RawStory)
February 3, 2025
- NIH eases freeze on grant reviews imposed after Trump communications pause (Jocelyn Kaiser, Science Insider)
- Trump orders disrupt academic research (Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Education)
- National Council of Nonprofits, et al., v. Office of Management and Budget: Temporary Restraining Order (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)
- Federal judge issues restraining order blocking federal spending freeze (Elena Moore, NPR)
- Trump administration to take steps to defund Education Department (Jeff Mason and Kanishka Singh, Reuters)
- Trump advisers weigh plan to dismantle Education Department (Matt Barnum, Liz Essley Whyte, and Ken Thomas, Wall Street Journal)
- Trump preps order to dismantle Education Dept. as DOGE probes data (Laura Meckler, Danielle Doughlas Gabriel, and Hanna Natanson, Washington Post)
- Trump order to dismantle the education department in the works, sources say (Arthur Jones II and Katherine Faulders, ABC News)
- Trump planning EO directing Education Department to ‘diminish itself,’ reports say (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed)
February 2, 2025
- Thousands of U.S. Government web pages have been taken down since Friday (Ethan Singer, New York Times)
- January Articles
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January 31, 2025
- How 4 of Trump’s policy actions could impact higher education in 2025 (Natalie Schwartz, Laura Spitalniak, and Ben Unglesbee, Higher Ed Dive)
- Health Resources Vanish Following D.E.I. and Gender Orders (Roni Rabin and Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times)
- Health agencies purge Trump-targeted programs and websites (Jocelyn Kaiser, Meredith Wadman, Science Insider)
- NSF Letter re: Federal Court issuing a Temporary Restraining Order (NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan)
- Notice of Court Order (John J. McConnel, Jr., Chief Judget, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
- National Science Foundation freezes payments in response to Trump's executive actions (Jonathan Lambert, NPR)
January 30, 2025
- EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- The Trump executive orders and actions that are having immediate impacts (Washington Post Staff, Washington Post)
- White House regroups as funding freeze chaos recalls first term’s travel ban (Isaac Arnsdorf, Jacqueline Alemany, Natalie Allison, Liz Goodwin, and Jeff Stein, Washington Post)
January 29, 2025
- White House eyes fight to expand Trump’s power to control spending (Tony Romm and Jeff Stein, Washington Post)
- NSF and NIH grant reviews still on hold after White House rescinds memo (Katherine Knott, Insider Higher Ed)
- Inside the chaotic rollout of Trump’s federal funding freeze (Joathan Swan and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, New York Times)
- Inside 45 hours of chaos: The brief life and quick death of Trump’s federal spending freeze
(Jeremy Herb, Phil Mattingly, Jeff Zeleny, and Alayna Treene, CNN) - Trump White House rescinds memo freezing federal money after widespread confusion
(Chris Megerian, Zeke Miller, and Lisa Mascaro) - Rescission of M-25-13 (OMB, January 29)
- Trump makes moves to expand his power, sparking chaos and a possible constitutional crisis (Nicholas Riccardi, AP)
January 28, 2025
- Which federal programs are under scrutiny? The Budget Office named 2,600 of them. (Upshot Staff, New York Times)
- Is your research on Trump’s spending hit list? (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- Trump executive order puts STEM diversity efforts on hold (Virgina Gewin, Science Insider)
- Trump executive order would upend federal surveys that ask about gender identity (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- Trump offering federal workers buyouts with about 8 months’ pay in effort to shrink government (Mark Sherman and Will Weissert, AP)
- ‘Institutional destruction': A federal-funding pause sent shockwaves through higher ed (Jasper Smith and David Jesse, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- The Impoundment Crisis of 2025 (Steve Vladeck, One First)
- NIH memo addresses ‘confusion’ about restrictions imposed by Trump, easing some concerns (Jocelyn Kaiser, Science Insider)
January 27, 2025
- National Science Foundation freezes grant review in response to Trump executive orders (Jonathan Lambert, NPR)
- White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion (Jeff Stein, Jacob Bogage, and Emily Davies, Washington Post)
- Here’s what to know about Trump’s executive actions on climate and environment (Melina Walling, PBS News)
January 24, 2025
- As Trump freeze continues, NIH gets a temporary leader (Jon Cohen, Jocelyn Kaiser, Science Insider)
- Trump singled out these 130 colleges as possible targets for investigation. Is yours on the list? (Sarah Brown, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- The chaos in higher ed is only getting started (Ian Bogost, The Atlantic)
- Trump pause on foreign aid could threaten distribution of lifesaving drugs, experts say (Jon Cohen, Science Insider)
- Trump’s ban on funds to ‘promote gender ideology’ could threaten hundreds of NIH research projects (Science Insider)
January 23, 2025
- Against Anticipatory Obedience (AAUP)
- Here’s how science funding could change under Trump (Stephanie M. Lee, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- Trump’s shutdown of federal diversity office at NSF breaks law that created it (Jeffrey Mervis, Science Insider)
- ‘Never seen anything like this’: Trump’s team halts NIH meetings and travel (Nature)
January 22, 2025
- Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring (Meredith Wadman, Jocelyn Kaiser, Science Insider)
- How a Trump Executive Order could upend colleges’ hiring practices (Katherine Mangan, Chronicle of Higher Education)
January 21, 2025
- Trump has issued a blitz of Executive Orders. Some could affect higher ed (Jasper Smith, Chronicle of Higher Education)
- October 2024 Articles
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October 9, 2024
- DEI: Division, Extremism, Ideology: How the Biden-Harris NSF Politicized Science (Senator Ted Cruz, Ranking Member of U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation)
Contact Your Representatives
- U.S. House of Representatives
- U.S. Senate
Faculty Guidance and FAQs
- Guidance on pre-submission and pre-award activities
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What should I do? Pre-submission and pre-award activities
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As proposal deadlines approach, regularly check program websites and funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) to obtain updates on whether the program is still accepting applications, issuing new announcements or amending existing announcements, and/or changing requirements and due dates. Doing so will help you ensure compliance with the latest guidelines.
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Be aware that award decisions may be delayed. Monitor program websites and FAQs for any news.
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- Guidance on existing awards
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What should I do? Existing awards
- Continue working on your grants and contracts unless directly notified by the agency or the Office of Sponsored Research (OSP). Do not stop work based on rumors or internal agency guidance. Agencies must notify us of any changes to your funding once the contract is in place.
- Maintain contact with your program officers, but be aware that some may have paused communications.
- Monitor policy updates from the federal agency overseeing your grant for any changes in funding or compliance requirements. Refer to the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) resource page linked below.
- If PIs or RAs receive any award modifications or other notices, forward them to OSP at osp@rice.edu as soon as possible for review and processing.
- Notify OSP at osp@rice.edu if you receive a "Stop Work" notice from a federal sponsor. A stop work order typically means all project work must cease immediately, and no expenses can be incurred from the effective date of the notice.
- Closely monitor obligated budget balances to avoid deficits while awaiting future obligations. Anticipated funding is subject to availability and should not be considered guaranteed.
- Continue to meet existing deadlines for technical reports and/or other deliverables.
- Continue working on your grants and contracts unless directly notified by the agency or the Office of Sponsored Research (OSP). Do not stop work based on rumors or internal agency guidance. Agencies must notify us of any changes to your funding once the contract is in place.
- Faculty questions and answers
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Faculty questions and answers
Question 1: My NSF Career Award involves fundings for the Quantum REU program. I would like to know how this might be affected at this point. Shall I assume that I cannot use the funding to support Quantum REU students in the worst case scenario?
Answer: As of now, you may continue your federally-funded work unless and until you are specifically instructed otherwise.
Question 2: I’m submitting a proposal to NSF, and hope to get your advice on whether I should revise the following: "The PI will continue to commit to the promotion of diversity and the engagement of students from underrepresented groups."
Answer: Replace any content on DEI to "broadening participation" throughout the proposal.
Question 3: We have an NSF REU grant. The purpose of this grant is to bring students from underrepresented groups or those who do not have opportunity to perform undergraduate research to Rice for 10 weeks in the summer.
Answer: We have limited information but are currently encouraging faculty to proceed as usual. With that stated, we do not know if agencies will formally rescind specific programs and we may have to change course as more guidance is released over the next couple of weeks.
- AAU FAQs about indirect costs
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AAU's FAQs about facilities and administrative (F&A) costs of federally sponsored university research
The Association of American Universities (AAU) published these FAQs on F&A costs of federally sponsored university research on December 11, 2024.
Subsections include the following:
- Costs of research
- See especially the Issue Brief on Facilitites & Administrative (F&A) Costs of Research, published February 7, 2025, and accompanying PDF download.
- Fact sheets
- Research administration and regulation
- Costs of research