President Trump signed an executive order entitled, “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking” that will require all political appointees to review notices of funding opportunities and discretionary grant awards to “verify that each grant dollar benefits Americans instead of lining grantees’ pocketbooks” and does not support initiatives that “compromise public safety or promote anti-American values.”
Appointees are to apply several principles to the review process, including that: (1) discretionary awards must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities; (2) discretionary awards cannot be used to fund, promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate racial preferences or other forms of racial discrimination, including “activities where race or intentional proxies for race will be used as a selection criterion for employment or program participation”; and (3) preference for discretionary awards should be given to institutions with “lower indirect cost rates.” A fact sheet on the E.O. is available here.