Congress Moves to Preserve Indirect Costs
Congress has acted to block renewed White House efforts to cap indirect cost rates on federal research grants, preserving the long-standing facilities and administrative system negotiated with agencies such as NIH and NSF. Courts have already halted earlier attempts at a 15% cap, and new appropriations language explicitly prevents changes by the Office of Management and Budget while calling for study of alternatives. Indirect costs finance laboratories, compliance systems, cybersecurity, utilities, and grant oversight that allow experiments to proceed safely and legally. A sharp cap would not erase those obligations but would shift millions in unrecovered expenses onto university operating budgets, forcing tradeoffs in hiring, facilities renewal, and high-cost scientific fields. At the same time, the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) model has been referenced in appropriations reports and may shape a future framework for fiscal year 2027 as higher education associations and lawmakers explore options together. Congressional action this year signals that changes to research infrastructure funding must be developed collaboratively between government and universities.
Further Reading
National Institutes of Health, Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, Bethesda, Maryland, 2008. Public domain.