Grants face a culture war
The document lays out clearly what kinds of things can be considered administration priorities and national interests, and they’re basically a wake-up call. For example, the Trump administration canceled the PEPFAR program intended to limit the spread of HIV in Africa; is a step that is expected to lead hundreds of thousands of deaths. But it’s a good thing for the OMB, because an alternative has awakened: “Long-left activists have hijacked the critical work being done by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was created to respond to the AIDS crisis in Africa. Because of unnecessary spending, PEPFAR has become a left-wing foreign aid and assistance promotion organization.”
(The cited source for this is an editorial from the far-right think tank, the Heritage Foundation.)
While demanding “viewpoint-neutral” behavior from anyone who receives money, it has no problem engaging in viewpoint discrimination. For example, it completely prohibits any funding for “theories of disparate impact liability,” which posit that race-neutral regulations may have differential effects based on the race of the people involved. Also prohibited: attempts to compensate for historical discrimination that prevents women and minorities from having equal opportunities in society. This is considered DEI and therefore prohibited.
Also: funding for “gender ideology,” which it defines as an attempt to “deny the biological reality of sex or the sexual binary in humans.” Apparently, the study of human chromosomal disorders, which can result in unusual combinations of X and Y chromosomes, is no longer welcome in the United States. OMB states, without any evidence, that “ending government-sponsored promotion of divisive gender ideology is essential to scientific research, public safety, and trust in government.”
There is also a political litmus test for funding, which dates back to the McCarthy era when those with “un-American” ideas were ostracized. “OMB is proposing a new provision that would allow agencies to consider an applicant’s affiliation with organizations that violate federal law, harm public safety or national security, or engage in activities that advocate the overthrow of the United States Government,” the document states.
