Marylana Saadeh Helou, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Boston office, was quoted in STAT News, in “Trump Executive Order Seeks to Centralize Control of Grantmaking Under Political Appointees,” by Megan Molteni, Anil Oza, Angus Chen, and Jonathan Wosen. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

A sweeping new executive order seeks to transform how the federal government awards billions of dollars in research grants by giving President Trump’s political appointees unprecedented power over the projects agencies fund.  

The order issued Thursday night, titled “Improving Oversight Of Federal Grantmaking,” aims to fundamentally rewrite the rules that for decades have guided grant decisions. Instead of experts and career civil servants setting funding decisions and priorities, the order places that authority with presidential appointees who, in coordination with the White House, are directed to use their “independent judgment” and “advance the President’s policy priorities.” 

The executive power grab, which experts expect to be challenged in court, is likely to have massive and immediate impacts on the daily operations of American science. …

Marylana Helou, a partner at the law firm Epstein Becker and Green, said the order “transforms the concern about increasing political control over the scientific work of federal agencies from a theoretical concern to a practical one,” and in doing so, “could make planning for and performing any long-term studies very challenging for scientists, because of the fear that their federal funding could be pulled out from underneath them at any minute.” 

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