Senators Request Review of NSF Grants

Senators Request Review of NSF Grants

On June 20, 2018, four Republican Senators requested that the Inspector General of the National Science Foundation (NSF) commence a review of its grant-making process. The Senators — Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, James Lankford, and Jim Inhofe — expressed concern that NSF has “issued several grants which seek to influence political and social debate rather than conduct scientific research” in contradiction of federal law and the agency’s mission. As an example, they pointed to NSF’s funding of the Climate Matters Program, which sponsors classes and webinars for meteorologists to learn about climate change. The Senators characterized the program as an attempt to “sway individuals . . . to a politically contentious viewpoint” and argue that “is not science — its propagandizing.” They assert that “[i]t it unacceptable for federal agencies to support such research.”