Key takeaways:

• The U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolution 370-48.
• The Office of Management and Budget is unable to implement the grantmaking process changes until Dec. 11.

A continuing resolution that averts a government shutdown also has implications for the federal grantmaking process.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6500 on Sept. 1, and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Sept. 2. The stopgap funding bill temporarily blocks proposed changes to the federal grantmaking process. The House vote was bipartisan, with 370 “yes” votes and 48 “no” votes. Fourteen members were recorded as not voting.

A continuing resolution has implications for the federal grantmaking process. Image: Adobe Stock

As Healio previously reported, the Office of Management and Budget proposed what experts called “an unprecedented shift” in the way the federal government determines how to distribute grant funding. It would move away from the peer-review process to a system that allows political appointees to decide what should be funded and federal officials to cancel grant funding at any time.

But the continuing resolution blocks the Office of Management and Budget from finalizing and implementing the changes until Dec. 11.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) released a statement applauding Congress “for its swift and overwhelmingly bipartisan approval” of the resolution.

“The proposed rule would overhaul federal grant processes; replace peer review, scientific merit and patient needs with political alignment; and upend federal support for medical research and public health with devastating consequences that would leave our nation far more vulnerable to infectious diseases and put ending the HIV epidemic further out of reach,” IDSA President Ronald G. Nahass, MD, MHCM, FIDSA, and HIVMA Chair Anna K. Person, MD, FIDSA, wrote. “We call upon Congress to enact a long-term solution to protect the patients, communities, clinicians and researchers who rely on federally funded research to deliver lifesaving prevention and treatment and public health infrastructure to prevent and track serious health threats.”

*Editor’s note: This story was updated after the resolution was signed into law on Sept .2 to reflect that information.