As 2025 comes to a close, fiscal negotiations in Congress are intensifying, with significant implications for federal research budgets. Decisions on topline spending and appropriations will directly shape funding for agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), influencing grant availability, program priorities, and long-term investments in biomedical and scientific innovation. These discussions will guide whether proposed increases materialize, making this a critical period for the research community.
Stopgap Funding Through January 30
On November 12, Congress approved, and the President signed into law, the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026, following a record-breaking 43-day government shutdown. This means that federal agencies like NIH and NSF will continue to operate at fiscal year (FY) 2025-enacted levels until the continuing resolution (CR) expires on January 30, 2026. Notably, the bill omits an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which was among the issues that factored into the shutdown. While Republican leadership has agreed to hold a mid-December vote on whether to extend the ACA subsidies, the outcome of this vote will contribute greatly to the likelihood of another government shutdown in January.
Looking forward, Congress must still finalize spending for the remaining nine FY 2026 appropriations bills, which include the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS-Ed) appropriations bill that funds NIH and the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bill that funds NSF. While Senate leadership has signaled their intention to bring forward a smaller appropriations package that would fund NIH and NSF, the House has not yet announced its timeline for negotiating these bills; the funding level differences between the House and Senate bills must be reconciled through conference negotiations in order to advance the bills. Both chambers aim to complete work on the final bills before the current CR expires on January 30. While the CR protects NIH from immediate funding cuts, the final FY 2026 budget remains uncertain, affecting planning for new grants and multi-year funding commitments.
New NIH Strategy Affects Grant Funding Process
Last month, NIH outlined a unified strategy funding framework, effective January 2026, to promote clearer and more consistent award decisions across all Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs). This next step in implementation of the unified funding strategy builds on the August NIH Director’s statement, which outlined Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s vision for the agency. This framework outlines how NIH will allocate resources to advance rigorous research, address health priorities, and support workforce development. ICO Directors will continue to have the authority to decide what is funded by their ICOs; however, NIH will move away from relying on paylines and instead consider peer review scores in the context of their and NIH’s priorities, strategic plans, and budgets. Additionally, NIH released its Updated Application Policies in an effort to reduce administrative burden and simplify application submissions. The updated policies include eliminating Letters of Intent (LOIs) as part of the application process and bypassing the need for applicants seeking $500,000 or more in direct costs per budget period to contact an ICO beforehand. These policies will apply across all active and future Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) with these requirements.
New Leadership to Come at NIH Institutes and Centers
For several months, many of NIH’s Institutes and Centers have been led by Acting Directors. In November, NIH announced openings for twelve permanent director positions across ICs, including the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and the Center for Scientific Review, among others. This move may signal a significant upcoming leadership transition, reflecting NIH’s efforts to stabilize leadership and advance its strategic priorities across the agency.
Looking Ahead
The next several weeks will be critical for the future of research funding and policies. If Congress successfully passes a FY 2026 L-HHS-Ed bill with stable or increased research funding, the NIH unified strategy could be implemented without major disruption. However, if funding levels decrease or negotiations are further delayed, the new strategy could be tested under constrained resources. We will continue to monitor actions that will have an impact on federally funded science and will keep you updated on how to effectively advocate for human genetics and genomics research.