Ranking Member Lofgren’s Statement on NSF Terminating Awards

On Friday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced it was terminating awards “not aligned with NSF’s priorities,” including awards relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion and misinformation/disinformation. This cancellation comes the day after Ranking Member Lofgren transmitted a letter and Minority Staff Report to NSF Director Panchanathan stressing the importance of protecting the Foundation’s gold-standard merit review process.

“Director Panchanathan suggests that these changes are responsive to the priorities set forth by Congress. This could not be further from the truth,” said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (CA-18). “The American people deserve a scientific enterprise free from political interference, where expert scientists and engineers participate in a merit-based review process to recommend the most innovative and promising research proposals. The American people do not want a system where polititians, be they in the Senate or in the White House, decide which scientific projects to fund or defund based on their biases. The Director’s decision disgraces the legacy of our previous Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who shepherded the landmark CHIPS & Science Act through Congress and was a fierce defender of NSF and its gold-standard merit-review process. I call on the Director to reverse course immediately and protect the integrity of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. scientific enterprise.”