OMB proposed rule changes - act now

For non-US folks, feel free to skip. 

For US folks:  The Office of Management and Budget, which for much of its history has been a comparatively uncontroversial element of the executive branch, has set rules and guidelines for how many executive-branch agencies conduct business and interact with, e.g., universities.  For the purposes of how the research ecosystem operates, the most relevant is OMB's "Uniform Guidance" about how grants and contracts work.  Periodically these rules are updated for various reasons, including the goals and policies of the presidential administration.  The standard way this works is that the proposed changes are published in the Federal Register; there is a public comment period; OMB makes revisions and then publishes the new rules.  In principle, Congress can act to override or prevent rule changes, but without the agreement of the President, this is an extremely challenging path.

OMB has proposed sweeping changes to the Uniform Guidance, summarized here.  These proposed rule changes are huge deviations from previous practice.  For example, they would have all final grant decisions made by political appointees or hires of the executive branch (rather than, e.g., agency subject matter experts); grants could be cancelled at any time for essentially any reason (completely undefined insufficient support of the president's priorities), with no appeal process; international collaborations would be severely curtailed. That's just three for starters.  Note that this would also go beyond just the public research enterprise - it would allow the executive branch to cancel funding for things like bridges, roads, schools, agriculture, etc. for undefined political reasons.  It would be a huge transfer of power from Congress to the presidency.  Here is another summary by the AAU.  Here is an editorial essay from ars technica.  

The public comment period on this runs until July 13.  Here is a link where you can make a comment.  Here is a guide for how to be effective at this from Stand Up for Science.  The APS has a tool for helping people to comment about specific aspects of the rule changes.  It is also a good idea to contact congressional delegations (representatives, senators).  

It's important to have a clear public record about the proposed changes.  They may try to implement these regardless, but if so, there will be a continued fight over this in Congress and through the courts.