The House voted Tuesday to fund the government and to block a controversial White House plan to overhaul federal grantmaking through Dec. 11. The bill now goes to the president, who said last month that he would sign it into law.
This version of the bill, which passed the Senate last month, would at least temporarily block the Office of Management and Budget’s plan to give political appointees unprecedented control over grantmaking decisions and restrict researcher use of grant funds.
The bill also staves off the original Sept. 30 deadline for Congress to pass funding bills for fiscal year 2027…
OMB has so far reviewed almost 165,000 comments on the proposal. The office originally planned for the rule to take effect by Oct. 1, the start of fiscal year 2027. Rules are typically issued in the Federal Register 30 days before they take effect. OMB did not respond to a request for comment on how the bill affects its planned timeline for the rule, but OMB Director Russ Vought now says the office will not implement the rule until Jan. 1, according to Stat.
Based on the wording in the funding bill, it seems that OMB staff could still work on finalizing the rule and drafting their response to comments, said Stuart Shapiro, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
“I should note we are talking as if OMB will follow the law, and that is an assumption in this administration, not a given,” Shapiro added.