Policy News Headlines

 

Executive Branch

June 10, 2026

• ‘Weird and capricious’: Experts struggle to understand new list of political jobs at science agencies — Science

June 8, 2026

• Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee is unlawful, US judge rules — Reuters

May 29, 2026

• White House seeks to tighten political oversight of grantmaking — Science

April 8, 2026

• Trump administration drops court fight to cap NIH payments for research overhead costs — STAT News

Congress

June 15, 2026

• Lawmakers fight to stop administration dismantling $386M ocean observatory project — ABC News

June 4, 2026

• House passes agriculture and FDA appropriations bill — The Hill

May 20, 2026

• ‘Practical stewardship’: House Republicans release Interior-EPA spending bill — E&E News from Politico

May 14, 2026

• House panel OKs funding bill with NOAA, science cuts — E&E News from Politico

May 12, 2026

• Democratic lawmakers demand Trump explain—and reverse—termination of NSF’s governing board — Science

May 8, 2026

• House Republicans Propose Cutting Science Budgets, but by Less than Trump — FYI from AIP

Federal Agencies

June 2, 2026

• Exclusive: NSF watchdog unit is no longer investigating research misconduct — Science

June 1, 2026

• Judge Blocks NSF From Dismantling NCAR — Eos

May 27, 2026

• Exclusive: NSF puts new research grants to top universities on hold — Nature

May 19, 2026

• Senate confirms BLM, energy nominees — E&E News from Politico

May 11, 2026

• Forest Service scrambles to justify research shakeup — E&E News from Politico

Scientific Community

June 2, 2026

• U.S. science must innovate or die, National Academy of Sciences president says — Scientific American

May 11, 2026

• National Academy of Sciences experts denounce Trump’s NSF board purge — Scientific American

April 16, 2026

• EPA stopped tracking emissions. So this university stepped in. — E&E News from Politico

Informational Resources

Information

• List of Federal Staff Firings (from Government Executive)
• NSF Implementation of Recent Executive Orders
• Latest Memos from the Office of Personnel Management
• Akin Executive Order Tracker
• Just Security’s Litigation Tracker
• American Institute of Physics’ FYI Science Policy News & Analysis
• American Institute of Physics’ Primer on the Government Shutdown
• AAAS Analysis: Impacts of Federal Shutdowns
• Timeline of Administration Actions (from AGU’s Eos)
• EJToday Daily Digest of Environment/Energy News
• UC San Diego Library’s U.S. Government Information: Weekly Roundup
• NASEM & Congressional R&D Caucus webinar: Aligning Talent, Research, and Innovation: A Cross-Sector Approach to Strengthening America’s Research Enterprise
• OPT Observatory — data & analysis on international students in the US workforce

Take Action

• ESA Action Alert
• ESA Policy Toolkit
• Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s (FASEB) Science Policy & Advocacy Resources
• Watch a recording of ESA’s “Communicating with Congress” webinar
• Share your story with ESA of how recent events are impacting you
• Democrats on the House Science Committee want to hear from fired federal employees and individuals whose grants have been canceled
• Get in touch with the American Institute of Physics’ FYI science policy news team about layoffs at federal science agencies
• Get in touch with Nature’s News team to share your story
• Share how funding cuts are affecting your research with the New York Times (scroll to the questionnaire at the end of this article)
• Tipline for feds experiencing political interference in science (from HEATED & SciLight)
• Learn more about a multi-organization effort to share scientists’ stories on recent policy impacts
• The Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP) is a peer network for sharing resources and communicating with the public and policymakers

Get Help

• Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) resources
• Environmental Protection Network’s resources for federal grantees
• Lawyers for Good Government’s Fund Protection Clinic for federal grantees
• Environmental Protection Network’s resources for federal employees
• Civil Service Strong
• Alden Law Group’s archive of Executive Orders & OPM statements regarding federal workers
• These groups may be working on Class Action Lawsuits for fired federal employees (ESA does not verify or endorse these groups and is sharing for informational purposes only): Alden Law Group, Democracy Forward
• Engineers & Scientists Acting Locally webinar on Oct. 2: “Imagining Scientific Futures: Opportunities & Hope in Difficult Times”

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This page is produced by the Public Affairs Office of the Ecological Society of America. ESA’s policy activities work to infuse ecological knowledge into national policy decisions through activities such as policy statements, Capitol Hill briefings, Congressional Visits Days and coalition involvement.

Send questions or comments to Alison Mize, Director of Public Affairs, or Mayda Nathan, Public Affairs Manager.

Visit the ESA website to learn more about our activities and membership.