Spending deal comes with a bonus: Blocking political control of grants

支出协议附带额外红利：阻止政治力量干预科研拨款

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a stopgap measure that would continue funding the US government through early December. While the measure still requires the signature of President Trump, it’s widely expected that he will act to avoid a government shutdown immediately before the midterm elections. 周二，美国众议院通过了一项临时拨款法案，旨在维持美国政府运作至12月初。尽管该法案仍需特朗普总统签署，但外界普遍预计他会采取行动，以避免在期中选举前夕出现政府停摆。

This is a normal part of how the US government has operated in recent years, as it’s often difficult to build the political support needed to pass a full year’s budget in advance. In fact, dissent within the House’s Republican caucus prevented them from agreeing on their own measure to keep the government open; instead, the House simply adopted a version of the spending bill that had previously passed the Senate. 这是近年来美国政府运作的常态，因为往往难以在提前通过全年预算所需的问题上达成政治共识。事实上，众议院共和党党团内部的分歧导致他们无法就维持政府运作的自有方案达成一致；最终，众议院直接采纳了此前已在参议院通过的支出法案版本。

From the perspective of scientists and their supporters, that adoption turned out to be a very good thing. Because the Senate’s budget bill, passed in early August, contains a provision that blocks the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from implementing new rules that would give political appointees full control over what science is funded and allow them to cancel any grant at any time. 从科学家及其支持者的角度来看，这一采纳结果非常有利。因为参议院于8月初通过的预算案中包含一项条款，阻止管理和预算办公室（OMB）实施新规。此前的新规草案旨在让政治任命官员全面掌控科研资助的分配，并允许他们随时取消任何拨款。

The proposed rule has been widely decried as catastrophic for science, and it faced widespread opposition from scientific and health-focused organizations. That opposition likely contributed to two senators, Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), inserting language into the budget deal that prevents the OMB from implementing it prior to the expiration of the stopgap measure on December 11. 该拟议规则被广泛批评为对科学界具有灾难性影响，并遭到了科学和卫生领域组织的普遍反对。这种反对声音促使两位参议员——帕蒂·默里（民主党，华盛顿州）和苏珊·柯林斯（共和党，缅因州）——在预算协议中加入了相关条款，禁止OMB在12月11日临时拨款法案到期前实施该规则。

While this is not a permanent reprieve, it does signal that the legislature is not interested in handing OMB and other administration officials that much control over federal spending—the bill passed the Senate by a 90-6 margin, and by 370-48 in the House, where opposition largely focused on other aspects of the measure. Those margins raise the prospect that similar language could be inserted into any further budget deals without triggering opposition. 虽然这并非永久性的豁免，但它确实表明立法机构无意将联邦支出的如此大权交给OMB及其他行政官员——该法案在参议院以90票对6票通过，在众议院以370票对48票通过，而众议院的反对意见主要集中在该法案的其他方面。这些投票结果预示着，未来在后续的预算协议中加入类似条款，可能不会引发反对。