27 UNIHTED / NIH Vigils Newsletter 5/2/26

Written By Anna

Hi NIH Vigilers and 27 UNIHTED Community,

When they say no, we say yes. When they say yes, we say no. That’s how we stay in the fight.

Calls To Action

Comment on the Reduction In Force rule change (RIF) proposed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by 11:59 p.m. May 4. Some of the proposed changes include:

  • Changing employee ranking to prioritize performance instead of length of service

  • Exclusion of probationary, trial, and short-term employees from RIF protections

  • Reduced consideration of tenure and veterans’ preference

  • Less regulation for internal reorganizations and large-scale eliminations

Add your name (or anonymous voice) to urge Congress to impeach OMB Director Russell Vought for unlawfully dismantling government services Americans rely on. The Impeach Vought campaign has 1,700+ signatures! Share the link with friends.

Reach out to your members of Congress about issues that matter to you. Some possible topics:

Help the NIH Community: Review a resume, host a job workshop, plan a happy hour, volunteer, and/or advocate with 27 UNIHTED. Check out the links on our website to take action and volunteer. 

Upcoming Events

27 UNIHTED Events

Community Events

  • 5/4 - On Monday, May 4 at noon ET, the Partnership for Public Service will host a free webinar about how to tell your federal workforce story in congressional meetings. Learn more and RSVP here. 

  • 5/13 - Free webinar on modernizing NIH’s data and safety monitoring policy hosted by the NIH Office of Science Policy. Scientists, researchers, and the public are welcome, and feedback is requested. On NIH videocast 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET. Registration required.

Vigil “Auntie” News 

- The Good -

Jenna Norton back on campus! After being on retaliatory non-disciplinary paid leave since November, Bethesda Declaration organizer and Vigil Auntie Jenna Norton was ordered back to work May 4. No reason, explanation, or excuse was provided. It is also unclear if all other NIHers placed on similar admin leave will be reinstated.

27 UNIHTED members and allies in the news. Anna Culbertson was interviewed by NonProfit Quarterly on the rise of parallel institutions as a tool for democracy. Elizabeth Ginexi talks about the politicization of NIH and threats to science on the Forking Off podcast.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reinstates suspended whistleblowers. Following the ouster of Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, FEMA has reinstated 15 whistleblowers placed on administrative leave in August after signing “The Katrina Declaration” letter, which protested the administration’s approach to disaster preparedness. Fourteen employees returned to work last Thursday!

DHS shutdown ends (except for ICE and US Border Patrol). Following a record 76-day partial shutdown, the House passed a month-old Senate bill on April 30, which provides full funding through fiscal year 2026, and was signed by the President later that day. Relief comes just in time, as FEMA's disaster relief fund was depleted to “Immediate Needs Funding” levels, triggering significant restrictions in spending on hospital reimbursements, disaster prevention, and long-term projects. In addition, the U.S. is weeks away from hosting the World Cup across 11 cities, and the expected increase in airport traffic will put pressure on a short-staffed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that has lost more than 1,100 agents since February 14. 

House Appropriations rejects 23% budget cut for NASA. A fiscal year 2027 budget bill put out by the House Appropriations Committee last week declined to implement a 23% cut to NASA proposed by the White House, maintaining funding at the same level as last year. This good news is tempered, however, by a shift in allocation that reduces funding to NASA science by more than $1 billion.

- The Bad -

National Science Board wiped out. On April 25, the Trump administration dismissed by email all members of the National Science Board, an independent advisory body overseeing the National Science Foundation (NSF). This latest attack on scientific research funding follows a year of cancelled grants, slow-walking new awards, and the firing or forced retirement of ~1/3 of NSF staff.These moves have put the independence and merit-based funding structure of NSF at risk. 

Administration seeks to hand over health research decisions to relatives and Fox News contributors. Following the welcome withdrawal of Casey Means, Trump has now nominated Dr. Nicole Saphier for U.S. surgeon general. Dr. Saphier, a radiologist and long-time Fox News correspondent, is the third nominee for this position and holds many of the same fringe views as the prior two, from questioning hepatitis B vaccination to attacks on the transgender community. Meanwhile, Dr. Kristine Blanche, “Detox Doc” and wife of the acting U.S. Attorney General, was quietly appointed to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Advisory Council. NIH council slates have been in bureaucratic limbo for over 15 months, leaving Institutes unable to add new council members when existing members cycle off. These advisory councils provide crucial approvals required to pay NIH grants.

Agriculture department to relocate research and food safety staff. The USDA has announced it will move a majority of its ~2,600 employees outside of the Washington, D.C., area, including research, education and food safety positions. Although reported as an effort to place staff nearer to U.S. farming hubs, a similar relocation effort in 2019 led to more than half of displaced employees quitting instead. 

Political appointees exempted from performance reviews. In a startling double standard, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has exempted schedules C and G political appointees from performance standards and formal review on the basis that they “are effectively ‘at-will’ employees. As such, retention and removal actions … do not depend on formal performance ratings.” This argument falls flat as OPM has saddled “career” federal employees with proposed changes that increase the role of performance reviews, restrict top ratings and pull back protections against termination. 

- The Ugly -

Autism committee meeting reduces autistic representation and pushes anti-vax arguments. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) reconvened for the first time since unlawfully skipping its 2025 meeting, and voted to push research and policy toward a new official "profound autism" category. Members appointed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. largely rubber-stamped his agenda while many federal agency representatives abstained, citing a need for more review. The meeting's abrupt scheduling, reduced time for public comment, and vague posted agenda broke procedural rules and made the meeting less accessible to the autistic community while anti-vaccine autoimmune pseudoscience was presented as a persuasive argument. 

The Federal government continues to weaken support for the most vulnerable. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has announced that it will no longer fund the purchase of $1 fentanyl test strips, while the White House has proposed penalizing disabled adults who live with their families by cutting their Social Security income.

Dr. Anthony Fauci advisor David Morens arrested and indicted. In what some have called political persecution, Dr. Morens, an early opponent of the lab-leak COVID-19 conspiracy theory, has been indicted by a federal grand jury over allegations that he violated federal record laws. Earlier in the week, the 78-year-old with no criminal history was ambushed by multiple agents in tactical gear, partially stripped, handcuffed, and arrested.

The Supreme Court further guts the Voting Rights Act. A series of rulings from the conservative-majority court had already significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act. This week’s decision in Louisiana vs. Callais went even further by sharply narrowing protections against districting maps that dilute the political power of minority voters by insisting that unconstitutional “racial gerrymandering” requires proven racist intent rather than outcome. Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito cited voter turnout during the Obama years to argue that strong electoral protections against racism were no longer needed, ignoring more recent data that suggests the opposite.

Wellness Weekly

Our somewhat serious community recommendations for self care are:

  • Sit outside for five minutes and let the sun reboot your operating system

  • Name a “bee friend” and say hi

  • Gently bump heads with a cat

  • Check out our new merch shop

  • Donate to your favorite non-profit supporting biomedical research, public health, and the federal scientific workforce

In solidarity,

27 UNIHTED and NIH Vigils

Anna
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27 UNIHTED / NIH Vigils Newsletter 4/28/26