ASH Statement on Office of Management and Budget’s Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance Proposal

(WASHINGTON—July 8, 2026) – The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is gravely concerned that the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed regulation will weaken the nation’s medical research enterprise and threaten public health. ASH requests that the administration rescind the proposal immediately. 

The OMB proposed rule will convert the Uniform Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance to a regulation, replacing a flexible administrative framework with prescriptive requirements that are less responsive to the evolving needs of medical research and federal grant administration. It would overhaul how grants, cooperative agreements, and other forms of assistance are managed – ostensibly to increase transparency and accountability – and would affect all federal agencies. ASH is concerned that the proposal will:

• Undermine NIH-funded hematology advances and create uncertainty within the field that will delay cures and clinical trials, jeopardizing patient health outcomes;
• Shift decision-making from merit to political priorities, challenging scientific integrity;
• Increase administrative burden on researchers and discourage early-career physicians and scientists from pursuing research careers;
• Limit scientific research dissemination; and
• Weaken rare disease research by limiting foreign collaboration and erode U.S. scientific leadership.

The proposal to require grant recipients to comply with undefined “Gold Standard Science” benchmarks is fundamentally flawed because as proposed it provides neither a clear definition of the term nor a practical framework for its application. 

ASH submitted a comment letter to OMB. In response to the OMB proposed rule, Robert Negrin, MD, president of the American Society of Hematology, issued the following statement:

“The proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget is a dangerous threat to medical research and should be withdrawn immediately. The proposed rule politicizes and sidelines merit-based peer reviewed scientific decision-making by expanding political power over research funding. The proposed rule will increase bureaucratic red tape and slow research productivity without increasing accountability or transparency. 

Progress in hematology, from sickle cell disease to leukemia, has been made possible only because experts have evaluated proposals, a system of peer review that has proven to be highly effective in a highly complex and rapidly changing scientific arena. Current mechanisms within NIH ensure that federal research is prioritized based on scientific merit, and not presidential or political priorities. A narrow interpretation of ‘gold standard science’ could leave research for rare hematologic conditions unfunded. Further, limits on publishing and presenting studies at meetings would diminish the scientific and public health return on the federal government’s investment in research. 

Science needs open communication and continuity to succeed. By limiting scientific collaboration and dissemination, this proposed rule will slow scientific progress and stifle the future of medicine.”