Washington Week in Science - October 2, 2026

A Weekly Update of Policy News and Select Funding Opportunities Compiled by Van Scoyoc Associates View this email in your browser October 2, 2026 Health Lame-duck effort brewing to protect NIH grantmaking Senate appropriators from both parties are workshopping language that could be added to a spending bill to prevent the White House from exerting political influence on medical research grants. The provision would go into the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that lawmakers hope to pass before stopgap funding expires Dec. 11. The senators, led by Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., say that guardrails are needed around National Institutes of Health grantmaking in the wake of actions by the Trump administration to wield influence over medical research. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said she is working on similar language for that subcommittee’s bill, which would shield environmental research grants from political influence. Read more: Roll Call NIH awarded all its grant funding, but delayed and opaque decisions stymied researchers A STAT analysis of National Institutes of Health spending shows that in the 2026 fiscal year, which ended Wednesday, the agency continued reducing grant awards involving health disparities, race, and ethnicity but made little progress toward other Trump administration priorities, including disbursing funds more evenly across the country and expanding support for early-career scientists. While the agency, like last year, spent its entire external grants budget of roughly $34 billion after a slow start, the manner in which it did so is sowing deep uncertainty among researchers. Read more: STAT News RFK Jr outlines expansive vision for collecting US health data at MAHA event Robert F Kennedy Jr laid out an expansive vision for collecting, sharing and analyzing US health information at a MAHA event hosted by a close ally and outspoken anti-vaccine activist. Medical and lifestyle data, from doctor’s visits to exercise, should be connected and shared with the government and independent researchers, where it can be searched by AI – including potential links between vaccines and health outcomes including autism and mortality, suggested Kennedy, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a longtime vaccine skeptic. Read more: The Guardian CDC’s latest youth behavior report offers a narrower look at teen health For more than 35 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has surveyed American high school students every two years about their health and behavior. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, established in 1991, draws a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9 through 12 at public and private schools. Over the years, it has tracked a broad range of issues affecting teenagers, from substance use and sexual behavior to violence, mental health, and other health risks. But the CDC’s latest national report, a full-color publication with photos, graphics, and high school success stories, offers a markedly different portrait of adolescent health than the one it published two years ago. Read more: Education Week Changing the way you put your baby to bed can save their life, according to new CDC data Sudden unexpected infant death claimed the lives of about 3,400 babies in the United States in 2024. Despite decades of public health efforts to promote safer sleep, these deaths remain a major cause of mortality during infancy. A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly three-quarters of these deaths examined from 2020 through 2024 involved unsafe sleep factors. Read more: CNN FDA advisers recommend flu vaccine strains A panel of advisers to the US FDA on Thursday recommended the virus strains vaccine manufacturers should include for the 2027 southern hemisphere influenza season. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee recommended that the egg-based trivalent flu vaccine include H1N1, H3N2 and influenza B strains for the 2027 season. All nine voting members of the committee were in favor. Read more: Star Advisor FDA seeks scientists and consumer representatives for advisory panels The US Food and Drug ​Administration on Wednesday launched a nationwide recruitment drive to bring in ‌scientists, medical experts and consumer representatives to its committees that advise the agency on drugs, vaccines and other regulated products. The agency is seeking ​candidates for current and expected vacancies in areas ​including oncology, cardiovascular medicine, neurology, genetics and medical devices, ⁠it said. The FDA will accept nominations on a continuing basis, including ‌self-nominations. ⁠It set a November 15 deadline for consumer representatives and November 30 for scientific and other voting members to receive first consideration for current and near-term vacancies. Read more: Reuters National Security Hegseth announces 5 new non-Ivy League partnerships Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced new Pentagon partnerships with five non-Ivy League colleges and universities Wednesday amid his ongoing efforts to distance the military from America’s most prestigious higher education institutions. “We’re partnering with a new crop of premier higher ed institutions, including Louisiana State University [LSU], Liberty University, Tuskegee University, Mississippi State University and Hillsdale College,” Hegseth said during a speech Wednesday in Quantico, Va. Read more: The Hill Elon Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich to help Pentagon with warfare initiative, Hegseth says The Pentagon is tapping Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, defense technology entrepreneur and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to identify the military capabilities, technologies and weapons the U.S. may need in future wars, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday. The initiative, dubbed Project Meridian, will spend 120 days looking years and decades ahead at how warfare could change and what capabilities the U.S. military will need to maintain a technological edge. Read more: CNBC Hegseth directs military service academies to immediately stop giving tenure to civilian professors Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo Tuesday directing institutions like the Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy in Annapolis to immediately stop granting tenure to civilian faculty, in Hegseth's latest change to military higher education. "Tenure often leads to academic stagnation, faculty complacency, and institutional inability to adapt to emerging needs," he wrote. "Additionally, it contributes to curriculum that drifts from the mission of educating our warfighters to the research priorities of the tenured academics." Read more: CBS News Hegseth says 20% of senior military officers will be cut, unveils new AI command Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday unveiled six new initiatives including the creation of a new four-star "AUTOWARCOM" command that will integrate fast-developing autonomous drone technologies and artificial intelligence and a religious affairs office. At the top of his remarks, Hegseth confirmed reports that 20% of the most senior military ranks -- general and flag officer slots -- would be going away. Read more: ABC News Energy Senate reaches bipartisan deal on permitting bill to speed approvals of new energy projects Senators from both parties said Wednesday they have reached a bipartisan deal on legislation aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects that now face yearslong delays as lawmakers seek to meet growing demand for electricity and other forms of energy. The bill, proponents argue, would cut down the arduous timeline for getting big energy projects off the ground at a time when demand is rising because of mushrooming data centers for AI. Read more: PBS Lofgren demands answers to overdue oversight requests regarding DOE award terminations On Monday, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) sent a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright demanding that he answer multiple months-overdue oversight requests from the Committee regarding DOE’s 2025 award terminations. “For more than 15 months, my colleagues and I have attempted to conduct oversight of DOE’s award termination activities,” writes Ranking Member Lofgren in her letter. “We have asked questions, requested documents, and demanded answers directly from you during official testimony. But DOE has thwarted our oversight repeatedly by refusing to provide the requested information and documents.” Read more: House Science, Space, and Technology Committee -- Democrats Energy Department’s $100 million technical assistance partnership set to strengthen cybersecurity On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) announced its intent to fund not-for-profit organizations that aim to enhance the cybersecurity postures of electric cooperative, municipal, and small investor-owned utilities across the U.S. This $100 million funding opportunity is available through CESER’s Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity (RMUC) Technical Assistance (TA) Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) and requires applicants to deliver cybersecurity technical assistance, technologies, services, threat information sharing, and other support to eligible electric utilities. Read more: DOE Energy Department announces up to $400 million for basic research to advance the frontiers of science The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its annual funding opportunity of up to $400 million to advance the frontiers of scientific knowledge and lay the foundation for future technologies and innovation. The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), informally known as the “Open Call,” is issued annually at the beginning of each Fiscal Year (FY). It provides a vehicle for DOE’s Office of Science to solicit applications from institutions for research support in areas not covered by more specific, topical NOFOs issued by the office in FY 2027. Read more: DOE Trump says diesel export ban is still on the table President Donald Trump said Wednesday he hasn’t yet made up his mind on whether to impose a ban on diesel fuel exports, despite fierce pushback on the idea in recent days from the oil and gas industry and some of his own advisers. The White House is facing growing pressure to take steps to bring down record high diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections, and Trump indicated last week he would be open to restricting exports. But members of his Cabinet and top industry officials argue that such a move would end up raising prices for all types of fuel, including gasoline, and they have scrambled to present alternative measures to the president. Read more: Politico Space SpaceX successfully launches NASA Crew-13 astronauts to ISS SpaceX (SPCX) launched four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, sending NASA's Crew-13 mission aloft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after a nearly three-week delay. A Falcon 9 rocket carried the Crew Dragon capsule Grace off Space Launch Complex 40, with forecasters having put the odds of favorable weather at 60%. The first-stage booster landed back at Pad 40 minutes after liftoff. It was the booster's third flight, following a Starlink mission and the launch of Crew-12, per Spaceflight Now. Read more: Yahoo! Finance NASA adds new science investigations for Moon Base NASA selected three new scientific investigations and their payload suites to advance our knowledge of the Moon and help pave the way for building humanity’s first lunar outpost, Moon Base. The suite of science instruments and technologies was selected through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program and will fly to the lunar surface using the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. The payloads will help researchers understand lunar resources, map natural shelters, and assess environmental hazards, laying the foundational groundwork for a safe and sustained human presence under the agency’s Artemis and Moon Base programs. Read more: NASA Science and Technology Trump announces accord signed by top AI companies to 'self-police' development President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology during a meeting at the White House. The announcement followed an extensive meeting between Trump and numerous leading executives from top tech firms that are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build out AI infrastructure, including data centers in communities across the country that have sparked grassroots, bipartisan opposition. Many of the executives gathered in Washington have called for a slowdown in the development of the technology after several high-profile incidents where AI agents have gone rogue. Read more: PBS Fundamental Science and Engineering NSF launches the Open Knowledge Network to power the new wave of AI-enabled discovery The U.S. National Science Foundation announced this week the launch of the NSF Open Knowledge Network (NSF OKN), a national open-data infrastructure that links 43 interconnected knowledge graphs and tens of billions of connected facts across health, the environment, justice, manufacturing, and national security. The network is live and open to the public at okn.us. NSF OKN provides a structured, persistent, verifiable knowledge layer to complement contemporary artificial intelligence models, providing grounding of facts, attribution, and knowledge governance essential to critical AI applications in a number of fields. Read more: NSF Oceans and Atmosphere NOAA announces confirmed U.S. large whale entanglement numbers for 2025 NOAA Fisheries has released the National Report on Large Whale Entanglements Confirmed in the United States in 2025. There were 76 confirmed large whale entanglement cases nationally in 2025. This is lower than the 95 confirmed large whale entanglement cases in 2024. It is slightly higher than the average annual number of confirmed entanglements over the previous 18 years, which is 72.7. Read more: NOAA Conservation groups sue NOAA over Pacific deep-sea mining application Two conservation groups sued NOAA on Wednesday, arguing the agency allowed a mining company to bypass a legally required public review before approving its application to explore for minerals across a stretch of Pacific seafloor larger than Ohio. The Conservation Council for Hawaii and the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit in federal court in Honolulu against NOAA and its administrator, Dr. Neil Jacobs. They’re challenging NOAA’s May 26 certification of an application by TMC USA for an exploration license. Read more: Courthouse News Service NOAA map shows where historic El Niño could bring more snow this winter A NOAA map shows which parts of the United States have historically received more snow during strong El Niño winters—and the pattern could become especially relevant this year. The Climate Prediction Center says there's now a 75% chance El Niño reaches historic strength from October through December. The odds of a very strong El Niño this fall and winter are above 90%. Read more: Yahoo! News Environment 25 states and cities sue EPA over repeal of power plant emissions limits New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 25 states and cities in suing the Trump administration on Thursday to block the Environmental Protection Agency's repeal of greenhouse gas emission limits for power plants. The coalition filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the EPA's elimination of the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, rules that had obligated coal- and gas-fired power plants to cut their greenhouse gas output. Power plants account for roughly one-quarter of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, according to the New York attorney general's office. Read more: Quartz EPA to ‘reconsider’ air quality rules as Texas faces diesel price ‘disaster’ The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday it would “reconsider” air-quality regulations amid Texas’s diesel price “disaster.” The letter sent by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) responded to concern from officials in the Lone Star State that rules from the Biden and Obama administrations are causing “significant economic harm.” Read more: The Hill Agriculture Judge extends temporary pause in USDA relocations as he considers indefinite freeze A federal judge in San Francisco is weighing whether or not to block the Agriculture Department from carrying out its sweeping reorganization plans. “I’m not firmly decided as to whether I'm going to grant the preliminary injunction motion or not,” U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria told both parties in a hearing Tuesday. But Chhabria is directing both parties to draft proposed language for a potential injunction by Oct. 7. He’s also extending an administrative stay until Oct. 13, which will continue to put a temporary hold on deadlines for all “management directed reassignment” letters USDA has issued so far. The initial administrative stay was scheduled to expire on Oct. 2. Read more: Government Executive Groups: USDA violated law on REAP rules Electricity prices and other energy costs keep rising, but USDA has severely restricted one of the biggest tools farmers and small rural businesses have had to produce solar power on their farms to offset costs, according to a new lawsuit. Farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, along with solar energy groups, filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, suing USDA and department officials over changes to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) that plaintiffs argue were done to effectively block funding for nearly all on-farm solar projects. Read more: Progressive Farmer Corn plunges 20 cents as high USDA stocks stun market Corn futures plunged near six-week lows after USDA reported Sept. 1 stockpiles sharply above expectations, confirming abundant supplies left over from last year’s record harvest with farmers in early stages of bringing another big crop. Soybeans also fell despite a drop in stocks. USDA, in its quarterly Grain Stocks report released Sept. 30, estimated U.S. corn stocks in all positions at the start of the month at 2.095 billion bushels, up 35% from the same date a year earlier and a seven-year high. Analysts expected a figure closer to 1.918 billion bushels, which would have been down just a few million bushels from USDA’s current ending stocks figure. Read more: Farm Progress Revenues tumble for livestock vets in rural areas, USDA finds Revenues have dropped sharply for rural veterinary practices that work with livestock in recent years, contributing to challenges in areas already facing veterinary shortages, according to USDA. A recent study from USDA’s Economic Research Service has found that “rural practices are not thriving,” with revenues falling about 22% between 2021 and 2025 among practices that treat food animals. “In addition, difficult working conditions including burnout, particularly for food-animal practitioners, can be attributed to lost revenue,” the report said. Read more: Capital Press