Sponsors (45)
The bill strengthens scientific independence, grant continuity, and congressional transparency at NIH/ARPA-H but does so by imposing new classifications, reporting, and procedural requirements that create administrative costs, limit executive placement flexibility, and may reduce job protections for some federal employees.
Researchers, institutions, and taxpayers are more likely to get merit-based NIH/ARPA-H grant decisions free from political-appointee influence, protecting scientific independence and public trust in research funding.
Researchers and award recipients keep NIH grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements active for their full agreed periods unless formal written findings (fraud, mismanagement, debarment, or malfeasance) justify suspension or cancellation, reducing abrupt funding interruptions.
A clearer, uniform definition of 'political employee' gives HHS/NIH a consistent basis to identify covered staff and apply PHSA rules, improving administrative consistency and reducing ambiguity in enforcement.
Some federal employees (e.g., SES noncareer, Schedule C/G, designees) could be newly classified as political employees and lose civil-service protections or face greater job insecurity.
HHS/NIH and award-administering offices will face added administrative and compliance burdens (defining status, tracking participation, producing reports, preparing written findings), diverting staff time and resources and potentially slowing grantmaking and oversight.
Requirements for formal written findings and notification procedures may constrain NIH's ability to quickly pause or stop problematic projects, potentially delaying responses to urgent scientific, safety, or compliance concerns.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Bars defined political appointees from NIH employment and from participating in NIH/ARPA‑H grant awards, requires a retrospective report, and limits cancellation of awarded agreements absent written findings.
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure scientific integrity in the activities of the National Institutes of Health and prevent the diversion of funds to politically driven activities, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 21, 2026 by Diana DeGette · Last progress January 21, 2026
Prohibits certain political appointees from working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or participating in NIH and ARPA‑H grant and contract decisionmaking, and restricts cancellation or suspension of awarded research agreements except for specified findings. It also requires a 30‑day report to Congress about political‑employee participation in NIH/ARPA‑H funding decisions since January 20, 2021. The bill creates a new statutory definition of “political employee,” lists exceptions for a few senior research directors, and adds procedural requirements for notices to Congressional committees when covered agreements are halted for misconduct or fraud.