July 1–September 30, 2025

Every day, FASEB delivers real value to its members through a variety of programs and services that benefit you and your society. Here are a few recent initiatives demonstrating FASEB’s commitment to supporting every member of your society. Share this information with your society’s members and leadership to spread the word about these benefits.

Leading Efforts to Re-Open the Government

On October 1, FASEB issued a statement and an e-action alert urging Congress and the administration to immediately re-open the government. Your help is needed to make sure scientists, researchers, graduate students, and others are aware of the alert and the urgent need to contact Congress. Please share the alert with your society if you have not already issued a similar call-to-action.

Expanding FASEB’s Legal Advocacy

On August 1, FASEB joined three other scientific societies – ASBMB, American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), and American Society for Microbiology (ASM) – in filing an expanded amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in American Public Health Association v. National Institutes of Health. The brief urged the court to deny the government’s request for a stay pending approval, emphasizing the immediate and irreparable harm caused by the termination of grants supporting early career scientists. Continue reading

Supporting Researcher Advocacy

• On September 18, representatives from FASEB’s volunteer leadership and member societies joined nearly 500 patient advocates, scientists, and researchers from 37 states for the 13th Rally for Medical Research. FASEB sponsored travel awards to bring members of FASEB societies from targeted states to Washington, D.C. The travel awards went to Claire Kittock (ASHG), Scott Wetzel (AAI), Elisabeth Marnik (ASBMB), and Heidi Lampradl (GSA).
• FASEB recently launched a new virtual Advocacy Town Hall meeting series open to anyone interested in supporting FASEB’s advocacy efforts. A one-time registration process allows participation in the entire series as personal schedules allow. Registrants receive a follow-up email message summarizing the main topics of discussion and featuring curated FASEB advocacy resources. The next town hall will be held on Tuesday, October 21.

Responding to Threats to the Federal Research Enterprise

• On August 15, FASEB provided feedback to the Joint Associations Group on Indirect Costs (JAG) on the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) model, the group’s proposed new approach for determining facilities and administration costs (also known as F&A or indirect costs). The FAIR model was developed as an alternative to the administration’s proposal to apply a flat 15 percent F&A rate to research grants issued by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense.
• On August 22, FASEB issued a statement expressing concerns about the Executive Order (E.O.), “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking,” and calling upon the research community to take action to help inform their local communities and elected officials about the impact of this E.O. In its statement, FASEB noted that the E.O. represented the latest effort to convert previously apolitical and consensus-driven processes into vehicles for partisan priorities and codify policies currently being challenged in court.
• In its September 12 response to a Request for Information (RFI) issued by NIH seeking input on five options for limiting publishing costs charged to research grants, FASEB highlighted the ways in which the proposed strategies would nullify the agency’s efforts towards fostering Gold Standard Science.

Supporting Your Society’s Convening Power

Throughout 2025, FASEB has convened your society’s meeting professionals to assess and respond to the evolving landscape of scientific meetings. These sessions serve as a platform for cross-society dialogue, enabling planners to share insights, anticipate challenges, and collectively inform strategic decision-making. Key topics of discussion in the past few months have included: AI in meeting planning, hotel contracting trends, general meeting operations, and the impact of the government shutdown and national guard deployments on meetings and conferences. Continue reading