Russel Vought will reportedly receive veto authority over all National Institutes of Health grants, a move opposed by the NIH director.
The pending shift would grant Vought significant control over one of the federal government's largest funding bodies for medical research. The change represents a substantial consolidation of power over the NIH's grant approval process, which currently operates through a peer-review system.
NIH leadership has raised objections to the arrangement, citing concerns about the impact on the institution's research operations and independence. The move would mark a departure from traditional grant administration practices.
Vought's role would effectively allow him to block funding decisions already approved through standard review channels. The scope of this veto authority extends across all NIH grant categories and funding mechanisms.
The change has not yet been formally implemented and details regarding implementation timeline and specific procedures remain unclear. The proposal reflects broader shifts in how federal research funding may be overseen and controlled.
British Columbia filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in California, claiming the company could have used ChatGPT logs to alert police and prevent a mass shooting in the province earlier this year.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven bills Monday to regulate the data center industry, imposing new requirements on electricity costs, water use, and local oversight.
Samsung C&T committed up to $100 million to help Kairos Power build its first 50-megawatt nuclear facility, which will supply power to Google's data centers.
Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia is calling for a federal strategy to manage AI data center expansion, arguing that state-by-state approaches leave communities shouldering infrastructure costs without coordination.