Matt Hourihan

The smartest bed is the dumbest bed, as it turns out.

FABBS is hiring a short-term Tech Policy Fellow to focus on behavioral science and AI (link below). Share with early career policy wonks

@ilpfoundry.bsky.social @asa-scipol.bsky.social @scipolguy.bsky.social @abankston.bsky.social @matthourihan.bsky.social @snapcoalition.bsky.social #scipoljobs

Capitol Hill Briefing: Not Just Universities: How NSF Funding Opens Community College Pathways to the Future of Work and the American Dream REGISTER TODAY: Date & Time: June 3 from noon-1 PM ET Location: Rayburn House Office Building 2168, 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20515 Hosted by: The R&D Congressional Caucus, New America a...

🆕NSF cuts don't just gut universities. Join New America, the R&D Congressional Caucus, and the American Association of Community Colleges for a briefing around the value of the #NSF for the skilled technical #workforce and #communitycolleges.

Register and share: forms.gle/LNaF6PptDr2u... #scipol

Trump administration violated ‘impoundment’ law by freezing electric vehicle funding, GAO finds The independent watchdog is conducting at least 39 investigations into whether the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued its first impoundment ruling yesterday. Possibly first of many as dozens of investigations are underway. www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

Are groundbreaking science discoveries becoming harder to find? Researchers are arguing over whether ‘disruptive’ or ‘novel’ science is waning – and how to remedy the problem.

Good deep dive in @nature.com. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Kelly Rallies Senators for NASA Science Fight Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is leading a letter asking appropriators to provide $9B for NASA’s science mission directorate.

Coverage of Senator Kelly's efforts. Use planet.ly/senateletter to encourage your Senators to join him.

payloadspace.com/kelly-rallie...

Very excited about our new paper on the large social returns to public R&D spending, which was prepared for the @NBER Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy Conference, 2025

The MAGA revolution threatens America’s most innovative place Cuts to funding risk hobbling Boston’s science establishment

The MAGA revolution threatens America’s most innovative place
economist.com/united-state...
from The Economist

Should have been Episodes 7, 8 and 9.

The Case for Failure Budget cuts threaten scientific breakthroughs at a time when we should be rewarding risk

We don’t get the next mRNA vaccine or moon landing without risk. Short-term grants. Political landmines. Shrinking budgets. Big bets are disappearing—and so are possible breakthroughs.
bistromathic.substack.com/p/the-case-f...
#science #risk #innovation #NSF #NIH #research #bluesky

Europe launches program to lure scientists away from the US EU will spend over $500 million to recruit researchers and scientists.

Not great. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

NEWS: I just led 112 of my colleagues in demanding answers from the Trump Administration on their funding freeze of the National Science Foundation.

Cutting off NSF funding threatens vital research, stalls innovation, and risks ceding global scientific leadership to China.

Illustration by Shonagh Rae of Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the Library of Congress.

“Libraries are a trusted source. Let the books battle it out on the shelves. We have different perspectives, and you can choose.”

Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...

Called and spoke to real humans at each of my three representative's offices this morning (both local offices and in DC). Share your stories, your impact, your students' success, your discoveries, and your hope for the future.

Banger essay on the importance of federally funded R&D to American entrepreneurship from David Singer of Maverick Ventures. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

🚨 Breaking: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions

1️⃣ Removes/demotes division director leaders

2️⃣ Forced layoff notices to NSF staff going out tonight

3️⃣ More grant terminations expected tomorrow

One glimmer of hope: the 8 directorates appear to be staying

Megapod: The Crisis in American Science Podcast Episode · Plain English with Derek Thompson · 05/02/2025 · 2h 6m

Enjoyed talking to @dkthomp.bsky.social about the crisis in American science. Glad to have him on our side in talking about how to protect American science in the future. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

two little girls are dancing on a stage and one of them is telling the other to tell her . Alt: Wwo little girls are dancing on a stage and one of them is telling the other to tell her.

🧪 BOOM: The AAU, ACE, APLU, and 13 universities just filed suit today against NSF for slashing to 15% indirect rates.

Full compliant: www.aau.edu/sites/defaul...

Updates: www.aau.edu/resources-aa...

A similar group of plaintiffs won a *permanent* injunction against a similar change at NIH.

Excellent news. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/03/b...

AAU Outlines Concerns About Massive Research Cuts in FY26 Presidential Budget Request | Association of American Universities (AAU) AAU has issued a statement regarding provisions slashing research funding in the newly released FY26 Presidential Budget Request.

www.aau.edu/newsroom/pre...

Senator Collins’ Statement on President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026 | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

Strong statement from Appropriations Chair Collins. www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...

FY 2026 R&D Appropriations Dashboard | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

With the release of the skinny Presidential Budget Request, the FY 2026 season officially kicks off and the dashboard goes live!
Because this is a -skinny- request not everything was mentioned, so we'll keep updating as more details roll out in the next weeks and months.
www.aaas.org/news/fy-2026...

NSF thread below. bsky.app/profile/davi...

Aeronautics (-37%) and Space Technology (-48%) suffer as well -- cuts to sustainable aviation, advanced propulsion, other unidentified R&D. These are underappreciated bits of the US tech ecosystem.

NASA science and tech is ugly too.

*Science Directorate* gets a massive cut (-47%) as feared. Mars Sample Return is canceled, climate monitoring satellites canceled, Landsat restructured.

*Office of STEM Engagement* -- which runs Space Grant -- is zeroed out.

(DOE cont.)

*ARPA-E* is cut in half. (-57%) This is an incredibly successful agency that historically elicits FAR more in follow-on private capital than it invests in public dollars.

Also a $15 billion cut to IIJA programs.

DOE first.

*Office of Science* gets a billion-dollar (-14%) cut. Climate and earth systems research was less than $500 million in FY24, so this will likely effect some math and physical sciences.

Budget prioritizes AI, quantum, HPC, fusion, but no concrete numbers on these.

The President’s FY 2026 Discretionary Budget Request

Skinny Budget Day! Another terrible budget for US science and innovation. While attention is on NSF and NIH, some brief notes on energy and space, which also matter for competitiveness.

www.whitehouse.gov/omb/informat... 🧵

This from Jeffrey Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social) on NSF budget request: Trump has proposed cutting NSF's budget by more than half, to $4B, in FY 2026. The math in his "skinny" budget request is hard to follow, so here's a quick analysis:

🔊 Listen Now: What happens when the federal government stops funding university research Morning Edition on NPR One | 3:35

Thanks to @npr.org for interviewing me on Morning Edition about the danger of #DOGE's gutting the federal research enterprise.

🧵A note on reform: I can't think of a serious #scipol researcher who DOESN'T believe in reform. DOGE is not focused on reform or efficiency.

one.npr.org?sharedMediaI...