Spring 2025 Washington Info

Continuation of Executive Orders from the Trump Administration

The Trump Administration has continued to issue Executive Orders (EO). On April 23, President Trump issues an EO on Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future. This EO directs agencies to recommend a plan to streamline and optimize federal workforce training programs, with a focus on emerging industries. It also calls for a plan “to reach and surpass 1 million new active apprentices” by expanding Registered Apprenticeships, building apprenticeship connections with the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, and “identifying alternative credentials and assessments to the 4-year college degree that can be mapped to the specific skill needs of prospective employers.” Another EO, Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth, focuses on AI in education and EO calls for the establishment of a White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education (Task Force) to be led and Chaired by the Office of Science and Technology Policy Director. The Task Force is directed to establish a Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge (Challenge), with a plan for the Challenge due in 90 days. The Challenge will aim to encourage, highlight, and support AI education achievements with an emphasis on private sector collaborations. The EO directs the Secretary of Labor to support and prioritize the development and growth of AI-related Registered Apprenticeships, and NSF and the Department of Education are to prioritize research and the use of AI in education through teacher training programs.

An EO on Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy outlines the Administration’s plans to eliminate “the use of disparate-impact liability,” which had been cited under the Biden Administration for investigations related to K-12 school discipline disparities, among other policy areas. This EO requires the Attorney General and the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to issue guidance to employers regarding “appropriate methods to promote equal access to employment regardless of whether an applicant has a college education, where appropriate.” This order is for limiting enforcement of disparate impact regulations, directing agencies to deprioritize them.

DOD Latest Agency to Issue 15 Percent Cap on F&A Costs

An effort to cap Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs at 15 percent is ongoing at multiple federal agencies. F&A costs, also known as indirect costs, refer to costs of research that are spread across research projects rather than specific to one project, such as utilities and salary for grant compliance staff. These costs are typically reimbursed by agencies up to a given percentage negotiated by the awarded institution.

The National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and now Department of Defense have all seen an attempt to cap F&A cost reimbursement. NIH was the first of these agencies to issue an F&A cap policy update on all new and existing awards in February 2025; a permanent injunction has been issued to stop that cap from being implemented, and the case is currently going through the federal appeals process. DOE followed up with its own proposal that closely mirrored the NIH proposal. There is currently a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued to prevent implementation of DOE’s cap. DOE has responded by issuing updated guidance creating differential rates for categories of organizations, to be applied to new or conditional awards: 15% for for-profit and non-profit organizations, and 10% for state and local governments, specifically excluding tribal entities. NSF’s proposed cap would only apply to new awards, not existing awards. A lawsuit led by higher education associations and research institutions has been filed, and a court hearing is scheduled for Friday, May 23. Most recently, the DOD released a memo discussing an F&A cost cap, but no official policy guidance has been issued. Given the cap has not yet reached implementation, no legal challenges have been filed against the DOD plan.

Presidential Budget Request and Reconciliation

The Trump Administration has issued its fiscal year (FY) 2026 Presidential Budget Request (PBR), which outlines the funding levels the President would like to see passed by Congress for the next year. The Trump Administration released what is often referred to as a “skinny” PBR, as it provided a high-level overview of the request without many specific details on office- or program-level funding amounts.

The FY 2026 PBR prioritizes defense spending and would make significant cuts to non-defense initiatives. Under this proposal, NSF would receive a significant cut of approximately 52% to the agency, a total funding level of 4.36 billion. The PBR doesn’t go into specifics on which programs would be cut, but states that the request would reduce spending on “General Research and Education” and areas that are considered “low priority areas of science.” The PBR proposes establishing a new initiative at the Department of Labor (DOL) called “Make America Skilled Again (MASA)” which would “give states and localities the flexibility to spend federal workforce dollars to best support workers and economies” and direct States to spend at least ten percent of funds from the MASA program on apprenticeship. A more detailed version of the budget request is expected to be released later this month.

Congress has the final say on whether to accept, modify, or reject the PBR when creating its spending bills. Congress is also in the process of drafting an upcoming tax and domestic policy legislative package, using a budget process called “reconciliation.” Reconciliation allows the Senate to bypass the filibuster for certain spending and tax bills and pass legislation with a simple, 50-vote majority. The House has introduced and advanced proposals out of congressional committees, and a full vote on the House’s reconciliation bill will likely be soon. The bill includes provisions that would terminate the GRAD Plus loan and subsidized undergraduate loan programs in 2026, expand Pell Grant use for workforce training programs between eight and 15 weeks in length, and eliminate Pell Grant eligibility for students who are less than half-time enrolled, among other proposals impacting undergraduate and graduate education. The Senate has yet to introduce any proposals, so it is likely the timeline for the reconciliation process will progress into the summer.

ASAP Initiative from Congress

Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) have recently launched the American Science Acceleration Project (ASAP) – a bipartisan initiative to dramatically increase the pace of scientific and technological discovery with the goal of “making American science 10 times faster by 2030.” ASAP plans to leverage emerging technologies like AI to accelerate breakthroughs across the scientific disciplines including “biotechnology, materials science, medical technology, energy, agriculture”, among others. They are now collecting feedback from the public via a Request for Information (RFI) to inform the initiative’s work. Respondents may answer any number of questions and are encouraged to consider both legislative and non-legislative solutions. The RFI seeks input on a high-level strategy for the initiative as a whole, as well as specific challenges faced by the research community across five core areas known as “ASAP Pillars”, related to data, compute, artificial intelligence, collaboration, and process. Responses can be sent to ASAP@heinrich.senate.gov and ASAP@rounds.senate.gov,  the deadline to respond is June 30, 2025. Feedback from this RFI may inform future legislation expected to be introduced in this Congress, aiming to accelerate science across several domains.

Advocacy Academy Wraps Up; Lewis-Burke at SIOP 2025

The 2025 SIOP Advocacy Academy wrapped up in March. Across the three webinar sessions, Lewis-Burke Associates presented on science policy, the legislative process, and best practices for engaging with congressional offices and other policymakers. Lewis-Burke also provided insight into navigating the turbulent political environment when advocating for science and evidence-based policy. Advocacy Academy participants were given tools and know-how to advocate on an individual level as an I-O psychologist.

Lewis-Burke attended the SIOP 2025 conference in Denver, CO and participated in sessions discussing the current political landscape and expected impacts to SIOP members. During the session, Lewis-Burke Associates presented on recent policy changes in Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, while members of the SIOP Executive Board discussed how the Society has responded to these changes. Lewis-Burke also joined sessions on the impact to practitioners and participated in networking lunches for I-O psychologists impacted by or wishing to discuss recent government policy updates.

Contact Us

Additional information on SIOP advocacy can be found on the Government Relations page of the SIOP website.  For questions regarding SIOP advocacy, please feel free to contact SIOP’s GREAT Chair Kristin Saboe at  kristin.saboe@gmail.com or Allison Reed at allison@lewis-burke.com.