Oregon-Led Coalition Sues to Stop Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding and Diversity Programs
Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, joined a 16-state coalition of attorneys general to defend National Science Foundation (NFS) funding slashed by the Trump administration and increase diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) yesterday.
Oregon AG Sues Trump Administration to Protect Scientific Research and Education Programs
Rayfield joined the 16-state AG coalition to sue the Trump administration, seeking to stop its illegal attempts to cut critical (NSF) programs and funding that help maintain the United States’ position as a global leader in STEM subjects after the NSF started terminating projects focused on increasing the involvement of women, minorities, and people with disabilities in STEM fields on April 18.
The lawsuit seeks a court order ruling that NSF’s new policies are illegal and blocking their implementation.
NSF also announced that it would cap “indirect costs” of research projects like laboratory space, equipment, and facility services by 15% in May.
This would slash millions of dollars from groundbreaking scientific research across the country, jeopardizing national security, the economy, and public health.
Rayfield said, “In Oregon, we rely on this funding to support research at our universities, help train the next generation of engineers and tech leaders, and grow opportunities in rural and urban communities.”
The lawsuit seeks a court order blocking the implementation of NSF’s new directives to eliminate programs addressing diversity in STEM that include cutting vital funding for research across the country. NSF has a Congressionally mandated focus on improving diversity in STEM fields.
Congress ruled that a “core strategy” of the NSF’s work must be to increase the participation of people who have historically been left out of STEM occupations —a successful policy.
Between 1995 and 2017, the number of women in science and engineering jobs or with science or engineering degrees doubled, while the number of people of color holding science and engineering jobs or degrees went from 15 percent to 35 percent.
In response to the NSF’s April 18 directive, programs seeking to increase diversity in STEM have had dozens of projects terminated.
The coalition asserts that NSF’s directive to cap indirect costs at 15 percent would devastate scientific research at universities throughout the country as the new NSF cap would cut essential research and infrastructure, leading to critical projects being abandoned, staff laid off, and research crucial to national security, public health, and economic stability ending.
The AGs point out that, partly as a result of a separate lawsuit launched by Rayfield and 21 other AGs, the administration’s unlawful attempts to cap indirect costs at 15 percent for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Energy (DOE) grants have already been stopped by courts.
The coalition argues that the NSF’s directives violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution by unlawfully altering NSF policy and disregarding Congress’s intent for how NSF should operate.