These proposed changes have seen significant bipartisan pushback and have been criticized by scientists across disciplinesThe U.S. Senate is emerging as a potential bulwark against proposed rule changes that would give government bureaucrats more control over scientific funding. If this continuing resolution were to pass, it would effectively stall the Office of Budget Management’s (OMB’s) proposed rule changes from coming into effect until at least that date. The OMB's proposed changes would give political appointees, rather than the current system of panels of independent peer reviewers, the power to review and decide which research grants get funding from federal agencies. Critics included several Nobel laureates, who warned it would politicize the scientific process and greatly damage U.S. scientific advancement. “I advocated for significant changes to the proposed rule in a July 6 letter to the agency, citing its potential to politicize grants and harm small, rural communities, families, and biomedical research,” she said.