Thousands of members of the federal scientific community have been fired, defunded, discredited, coerced, attacked, and silenced over the course of the last 18 months. And worse may be yet to come as the Trump administration advances a proposed and unprecedented rule that would put political appointees in charge of billions of dollars of federal research grants. It seeks to destroy American science and federally funded research as we’ve known it for decades.

The proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget and other federal agencies, “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance,” would require all grants, including scientific grants, to be approved by “politically accountable leadership,” stealing approval power from career experts in their fields. Funding would be required to align with “key administration policies and priorities.”