Published January 28, 2025, via Research News
Dear colleagues,
We continue to work as quickly as possible to review the new administration’s Executive Orders. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum, issued yesterday, “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance,” directs federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” This pause was scheduled to go into effect January 28, 2025, at 4 p.m. central time. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked part of this order late today. The judge’s order prevents the administration from freezing funding for “open awards,” which have already been granted by the federal government, until at least February 3, 2025, by which time a decision on a permanent injunction is anticipated.
As you can see, this is a rapidly changing situation. If the Executive Order moves forward, we do not yet have clarity on how federal agencies will handle activities that fall into the categories listed above. Most likely, decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis. DOE, NASA, and NSF have issued orders to stop all ‘DEI related’ activities and expenditures. We are notifying the potentially affected WashU investigators and are reviewing their grants to determine if any specific actions are required. The OVCR and OGC are working to identify WashU grants and contracts that may undergo increased scrutiny, and we may ask those investigators for additional information. We anticipate that much litigation is in the offing. It will take time before we fully know what changes we will need to make and there is likely to be great uncertainty in the immediate time. We do not want to overreact or act precipitously, and we will be careful with our actions and recommendations.
Prior to the judge’s order, some federal agencies had paused all payment mechanisms while they reviewed the memorandum’s directives. For now, we recommend that all research activities supported by federal funding continue as usual unless we receive a direct stop work order for a project.
We are collating agency directives and advice on the WashU Research website Federal Research Updates 2025 page. Agency-specific guidance will be posted on this website as it becomes available.
As this situation evolves, we are actively working to gather information from multiple sources to help us determine how best to move forward. We also appreciate the uncertainty caused by these changing federal directives and the resulting concern and anxiety in our community. We want you to know that we’ll continue to closely monitor developments and provide timely updates as new information becomes available. We will look to share the things we know, and we encourage all to avoid speculation. We also encourage you to monitor your emails and the Federal Research Updates 2025 page on the OVCR website for new information. I also want to express my deep appreciation for your work and understanding during this challenging time.
Sincerely,
Mark E. Lowe, MD, PhD
Vice Chancellor for Research
Associate Dean for Research, School of Medicine
Harvey R. Colten Professor of Pediatric Science