Third Act SoCal member Ken K., a physician and life-sciences executive, has written the following blog urging readers to submit comments opposing the U.S. Office of Management and Budget\u2019s dangerous proposal to radically restructure how the federal government funds local programs critical to the future of this country. As Ken writes, this anti-democratic, anti-science revamp to grant-making would muzzle free speech by anyone who might want to seek federal funding\u2014nonprofits as diverse and critical as the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and TreePeople–and weaponize federal funding to retaliate against anyone who doesn\u2019t fall in line with the White House\u2019s ideological agenda. Comments must be submitted by July 13, so we join Ken in urging comments on this proposal.<\/p>\n
By Ken K.<\/p>\n
The Office of Management and Budget is proposing\u202fa dramatic restructuring<\/a> of how the federal government uses our tax dollars to support local communities<\/a>. I was recently asked, \u201cI\u2019m not a scientist, why should I care about it?\u201d\u00a0 and decided to peel away some of this proposal\u2019s layers, without reference to science. What I found disturbed me profoundly; I hope this piece convinces you of the urgent need to comment<\/a> on this proposal.<\/p>\n I work hard to earn a living and expect that the stewards of my tax dollars will follow a system of spending rules that is stable and reliable, that allocates money fairly, transparently, and equitably (e.g., based primarily on the merits of the application), that raises the standard of living for all Americans, and that is administered without bias. We have made great, albeit imperfect, strides towards these objectives; if implemented, this proposal would sweep away all that progress.<\/p>\n Why does it matter? <\/strong><\/p>\n The government generally distributes money in five ways: 1.) direct payments to individuals (e.g., monthly Social Security checks) 2.) loans and loan guarantees \u00a03.) insurance (e.g., federal crop insurance) 4.) contracts for materials and services 5.) grants to state\/local governments, universities, and nonprofits (the proposal\u2019s focus).<\/p>\n In dollar terms, nearly $1 trillion, spread across 1,183 grant programs and 42 different agencies,<\/a> flows through mechanism 5.). By comparison, the US spent $1 trillion on the War on Terror (including Afghanistan, Iraq, and other operations)<\/a> between 9\/11\/2001 and 2010. As a percentage of total outlays, more money (16%<\/a> vs. 14%<\/a>) goes to state and local government grants than towards the interest servicing the national debt. This contrast is underestimated, since official figures don\u2019t directly reflect university and nonprofit grants.<\/p>\n Grants must not \u201cpromote anti-American values<\/a>\u201d and must \u201cdemonstrably advance the President\u2019s policy priorities<\/a>.”<\/p>\n This impacts urban and rural communities in both blue and red states<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Grantees falling under this rule include:<\/p>\n Heavier oversight and reporting burdens<\/strong><\/p>\n Recent federal employment of grant recipients and staff<\/a>, their actions<\/a> that could cause reputational harm to the government, and certain criminal violations (e.g., fraud\/misuse of immigration documents, making false statements) must be reported<\/a>. These latter will be fast-tracked to DOJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n All grant recipients and their staff must be processed through Homeland Security\u2019s E-Verify<\/a> program, which has been criticized<\/a> for falsely flagging 0.15% of legitimately eligible Americans as ineligible for work, while missing up to 54% of ineligible workers. E-Verify results can be shared with ICE and Border Patrol.<\/p>\n Threats to business<\/strong><\/p>\n Business agility depends on funding stability and predictability. However, political appointees can terminate funding at any time, at will. Sourcing and work must follow a \u201cdomestic-first\u201d (e.g., Buy America) framework,<\/a> with exceptions allowed only if the government considers it in the national interest<\/a>. Even then, a vaguely defined list of \u201ccovered foreign countries (or entities)\u201d <\/a>limits allowable options. How this proposal intersects with Bayh-Dole legislation is not yet clear, but patent filings may entail increased cost, risk, and burden.<\/p>\n What can I do?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ask yourself: if my tax dollars are not going to fund programs that benefit me or my community, then where are they going to go?<\/p>\n Then file comments here<\/a> by July 13. Anyone, including non-citizens and residents of foreign countries, can file; anonymous submissions are accepted.<\/p>\n The Federal Grant Rules Action Center<\/a> and American Public Health Association<\/a> offer tools to help you write effective comments. A former NIH grants official has articulately laid out threats<\/a> to science and provided detailed, pragmatic comment-writing advice<\/a>.<\/p>\n When you write:<\/p>\n In closing<\/strong><\/p>\n Your comments matter! OMB must respond to all substantive comments before the rule can take effect, the entire record will be archived, and it can be used in future legal proceedings.<\/p>\n This is a serious threat that requires our entire community to mobilize. Please file comments and urge your legislators to fight this proposed rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Third Act SoCal member Ken K., a physician and life-sciences executive, has written the following blog urging readers to submit comments opposing the U.S. Office of Management and Budget\u2019s dangerous…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1638,"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions\/1638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdact.org\/socal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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