Local opinion: The politicization of federal grant funding will hurt Arizona

Through the taxes we pay, the U.S. Government supports many Arizona state services by way of funding grants, which have major impacts on our daily lives in everything from education, transportation, public health and law enforcement. Though few are yet aware of it, this funding is now in danger through a recently proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Grant applications for federal funding are written by recipient organizations and submitted for review by experts in the field. These experts determine the merit of the application, a process that has largely been apolitical. But the proposed OMB rule endangers funding by instead making it politically driven. This could have a negative impact on Arizona’s infrastructure, services, jobs and economy.

Federal grants in Arizona amounted to $31 billion in FY26, which benefit a wide range of organizations across the state, including agencies for infrastructure, law enforcement and public health; educational institutions and public schools; healthcare providers and tribal entities for rural hospitals, tribal health programs and clinics for behavioral health and substance abuse; nonprofit organizations for community development, food banks, and housing assistance; environment and recreation to build and improve outdoor recreation areas; and transportation funding to improve roads and airports. Federal grants, paid for by our tax dollars, affect every aspect of Arizona’s economy.

Additionally, the U.S. government has long been the largest single source of academic research funding at Arizona’s colleges and universities. For example, the University of Arizona alone brought in over $700 million in federal grants and contracts in FY25. This funding provides jobs and stimulates the economy; each $1 of grant funding results in $2.50 in economic activity.

The review process for federal grants often uses peer review, where experts in the field volunteer their time to critique the research proposed in a grant application. To keep the process free of corruption, reviewers work without pay and can’t have conflicts of interest with the grants they evaluate. While no system is perfect, peer review has long provided consistency, transparency and integrity, and has proven reliable at ensuring that grant funding is as fair as possible. The administrations of 15 American presidents, Republicans and Democrats, including the first term of the current incumbent, have accepted it. Until now.

New regulations issued by the Office of Management and Budget regarding federal research grants will make these expert recommendations advisory at best, while the actual decisions about which research projects to fund will be made by political appointees. This disastrous proposal comes directly from Project 2025, and places political agendas over expert review.

These political appointees will be required to turn down grants which the administration deems “promoting anti-American values,” and the rules specifically bar objective, impartial research on wide swathes of topics, including undocumented immigrants and transgender people — in a nutshell, any work designed to study anything related to the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Worse, the new rule would allow for termination of grants at any point, no matter their importance to Arizona, if a political appointee decides on a whim that the work runs afoul of their agenda.

Let’s consider what might happen. A grant on air pollution might be politically rejected because it interferes with the administration’s love of fossil fuels. Grants to improve public health infrastructure might be rejected due to the administration’s war on public health. Funding for food banks might be quashed because of the administration’s ongoing reduction and elimination of social services such as the SNAP program. It could be used to kill research grants on vaccines and infectious diseases that might counter Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s anti-vaccine campaign.

And to those on the political right who might approve of this administration’s priorities, beware: Once grant funding is weaponized to serve a political agenda, a regime of any ideology can use it.

For the citizens of Arizona, nothing good can come from the politicization of grant funding — only the loss of services, infrastructure and jobs, and reduction in the economy. The legislature and the governor should protest this ruling, and citizens should write to their elected representatives as soon as possible.