Comment from Anonymous Anonymous

I am writing with regard to Docket OMB-2026-0034. I was a faculty member and researcher at the University of Illinois for over 25 years. I conducted both basic and (predominantly) applied research, and was the recipient of federal (USDA) grants. I also had the privilege of serving on review panels for federal grant proposals. As reviewers, we extensive time and effort into reviewing and discussing the merits of each proposal, and ranking them on the basis of relevance to funding agency goals, scientific justification and rigor, qualifications and prior success of the investigators, appropriateness of the budget, likelihood of being able to achieve objectives in the alloted timeframe, and other factors. I believe it is extremely important that such a process continue, with scientists with appropriate expertise, not federal regulators determining which projects should be prioritized and funded. Scientific expertise, not partisan viewpoints should determine the merits of research. I am strongly opposed to the proposed changes and believe they have the potential to seriously bias the nature of future research to the detriment of our nation's standing in the global research community. If such changes were to be adopted, I feel this should be done on a limited trial basis with rigorous science-based evaluation of the outcomes before widespread adoption were even to be considered.