Follow the Science Act

This bill, known as the "Follow the Science Act," seeks to enhance scientific integrity within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by limiting the influence of political appointees and ensuring the stable execution of research funding. It establishes a comprehensive definition of a "political employee," encompassing various high-level and policy-determining positions across the executive branch. The legislation generally prohibits these political employees from being employed by the NIH or participating in the implementation of its general management and operational policies, with specific exceptions for the Director of NIH, NCI, and ARPA-H. Furthermore, it explicitly bars political employees from involvement in the critical stages of NIH and ARPA-H funding, including the solicitation, review, scoring, selection, or awarding of grants, contracts, and other agreements. To ensure accountability, the bill mandates that the NIH Director submit a report to Congress detailing any political employee participation in funding activities between January 20, 2021, and the bill's enactment. Crucially, the legislation also protects existing NIH funding arrangements by prohibiting the cancellation, delay, or suspension of grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements unless there are written findings of financial mismanagement, research fraud, debarment, or malfeasance . Any such action requires a 30-day notice to Congress, including these findings, and reinforces that agreements must be implemented according to their original terms and for their full specified duration.