House Passes Funding Bill, Halting OMB Proposal on Federal Grants

Earlier today, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Senate’s Continuing Resolution (CR) that will fund the government through December 11 and avert a potential shutdown later this year.

Importantly, the CR includes language that delays implementation of the proposed rule from the Office of Budget and Management (OMB), “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance.” The proposed rule threatens to upend how federal grants are disbursed across a spectrum of fields, including medical and surgical research.

The ACS has strongly opposed the OMB proposal, noting in its official comments that the organization has a “significant stake in ensuring that the Federal grantmaking framework supports rigorous, independent scientific inquiry. The provisions proposed in this rule would undermine that framework in ways that would harm surgical research, delay advances in patient care, and weaken the integrity of the Federal research enterprise for decades.”

Since the proposed rule was announced, the ACS has fought to safeguard independent surgical research and lobbied Congress to act. Inclusion of language in the CR that halts implementation of this potentially damaging rule shows that the ACS and its members are being heard on Capitol Hill.

The fight to permanently end the proposed rule is ongoing, and the ACS will continue to lead the charge to protect surgeons’ research and their patients.