WASHINGTON (TNND) — A sweeping change to how the nation’s top biomedical research agency funds science is being drafted inside the White House, after President Donald Trump directed the Office of Management and Budget to prepare an executive order creating a new board to decide which National Institutes of Health grants receive funding, according to multiple reports.

The proposed board would include OMB Director Russ Vought and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, with unanimous approval required for grant awards. The plan would give White House political appointees more influence over NIH’s $48 billion biomedical research budget.

Trump’s directive followed a Friday Oval Office meeting in which Bhattacharya reportedly declined Trump’s request to cut Harvard University’s NIH funding.

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 17: National Institutes of Health Director Jayanta Bhattacharya speaks during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on March 17, 2026 in Washington, DC. Bhattacharya is also serving as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Office of Management and Budget is drafting the order, but it has not been issued or finalized.

NIH currently relies on scientific peer-review panels, advisory councils and agency officials to evaluate and award research grants.

An HHS spokesperson said NIH grant money will be distributed. OMB and the White House did not immediately comment on the proposal.

Congress earlier blocked an OMB plan to expand political review of federal health grants through mid-December.