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Category: Biomedical Research

Senate Confirms Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC Director

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On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate voted to confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency’s first full-time leader in nearly a year. The 51-44 vote fell along party lines, with Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) as the only Democrat to vote in her favor. Dr. Schwartz was a deputy surgeon general in Trump’s first administration and is Trump’s third nominee for CDC director in two years. She takes the lead at an agency that has faced a wave of challenges since Health Secretary Kennedy took office, including losing about a third of its staff to layoffs and resignations, the firing of former director Susan Monarez after clashes over vaccine policy, and dealing with several high-profile outbreaks.

Dr. Schwartz has expressed strong support for Kennedy’s “Make Health Healthy Again” agenda. She has publicly supported vaccines but dodged specific questions during her confirmation hearing about potential political interference from Kennedy.

UW Submits Comment Opposing Proposed Changes to Uniform Guidance

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The comment period for OMB’s proposed changes to the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance (known as Uniform Guidance) closed last night at 11:59pm Eastern. The University of Washington has submitted a formal letter expressing concerns related to OMB’s proposed changes, based on feedback received from the UW community.

In summary,

“The proposed changes in the Uniform Guidance, shifting it to a set of uniform grant regulations, would undermine what is a revered pillar of American greatness; our scientific enterprise. Our nation has benefited enormously from a research funding system grounded in scientific excellence, peer review, and long-term investment. It has allowed us to be the world’s economic driver for generations. Our nation should invest in science, including a funding framework that promotes scientific independence from political interference, stability, and evidence-based decision making, to preserve our dominance. These changes will only undermine our leadership. The University of Washington urges OMB to withdraw the proposed rule entitled “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance” in its entirety.”

The full UW comment letter is available here.

The proposed effective date for the new guidance is October 1, 2026. When the comment period closed last night, OMB had received 496,769 comments, which are public record and will continue to be published here.

Additional comment letters:

In addition, this tracker from APLU contains up-to-date information of letters sent by Members of Congress regarding Uniform Guidance.

Sen. Collins Asks OMB to Withdraw Parts of Grant Rule, Extend Comment Period

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Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, sent a letter yesterday to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, asking him to extend the comment deadline for OMB’s proposed revisions to Uniform Guidance by 45 days and to withdraw portions of the rule. Collins specifically objected to the following provisions:

  • Allowing federal agencies to terminate discretionary grants at any time without an appeal process opportunity
  • Requiring senior political appointees to approve grants, noting “this additional review for awards that have already been selected through a scientific, merit-based peer review process would undermine the objective that the Federal government fund scientific and biomedical research projects based on scientific merit and value, rather than political ideology.”
  • Requiring agencies to consider the president’s policy priorities when administering grants, Collins argued that the proposed rule fails to “ensure that consideration of the President’s policy priorities does not supersede congressional intent for the administration of these awards.”

In her letter, Collins asked OMB to withdraw these provisions, among others, and to extend the comment deadline to 90 days.

Proposed Uniform Guidance Changes

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On May 29, 2026, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would substantially revise 2 C.F.R. Part 200, commonly referred to as the “Uniform Guidance”, which applies to federal grants, cooperative agreements and other types of federal assistance funding.

If finalized, the proposed rule would significantly impact federal awards, including requiring political appointee review of grant decisions, restrictions on who applicants may work with, expanded rights the federal government has in modifying or terminating awards, and much more. Because these changes have significant implications for federally funded research, the University and UW Medicine are compiling an institutional response to the federal government. 

Please use the University’s “Uniform Guidance – Proposed Changes” form (UW NetID required) to provide your comments to University leadership to support the University’s official response to OMB. Your feedback and examples of impacts will inform our official UW response, and comments are still being accepted.

As a member of the public, you may also comment directly to OMB; however, OMB will consider only one comment per institution. Therefore, if you choose to submit comments to OMB in an individual capacity, you should state your experience generically (e.g. a faculty member in at a large public university) but do not mention your affiliation with the University of Washington.

Additional analysis from APLU can be found here: Summary of Uniform Guidance Issues.