States sue over Trump cuts to research funding, STEM diversity efforts
May 28 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block the administration of President Donald Trump from making massive cuts to federal funding for scientific research and projects focused on increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math fields.
The attorneys general of 16 states, including New York, California, Illinois, and New Jersey, say the Trump administration lacks the power to cap research funding and eliminate diversity programs provided by the National Science Foundation that were mandated by Congress.
The lawsuit, opens new tab was filed in Manhattan federal court.
Earlier this month, 13 major U.S. universities sued over NSF's decision to cap reimbursement for indirect research costs such as lab space and equipment at 15%, which mirrored funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Energy that judges have temporarily blocked.
Wednesday's lawsuit also challenges the cap at NSF along with the elimination of programs designed to boost the participation of women, minorities and people with disabilities in STEM fields. The states say both efforts could cause the U.S. to lose its position as a global leader in STEM research.
"Institutions will not be able to maintain essential research infrastructure and will be forced to significantly scale back or halt research, abandon numerous projects, and lay off staff," they said.
The NSF declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House has proposed slashing NSF's $8.8 billion budget by more than 55%, and said it plans to restructure and drastically downsize the agency.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said people use technology made possible by NSF funding every time they go online, scan a barcode at a store, or get an MRI scan.
'This administration's attacks on basic science and essential efforts to ensure diversity in STEM will weaken our economy and our national security," James, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The states claim that the reimbursement cap would devastate scientific research at universities throughout the country.
James' office said New York state universities received $104 million in NSF funding last year, which supported research into microelectronics, climate research and battery technology.
They claim the cap and the elimination of diversity programs violate a federal law barring "arbitrary and capricious" actions by agencies, and violate the constitutional separation of powers by encroaching on funding decisions made by Congress.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Barron Trump's best friend claims he got ICE to detain world's biggest TikTok star Khaby Lame
One of Barron Trump's supposed best friends has claimed he's responsible for getting the world's biggest TikTok star deported out of the United States. Bo Loudon, a Gen Z MAGA influencer who's previously been pictured with Barron and Donald Trump, said he reported Khaby Lame to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Loudon's first post on X came June 6 when he wrote that Lame is an 'illegal alien ' in all caps before proclaiming that he has 'been working with the patriots at President Trump's DHS' to deport the Senegal-born influencer. ICE already confirmed Lame was detained at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on June 6, the same day Loudon made his supposed involvement public. Lame, who has over 162 million TikTok followers, overstayed his visa after entering the country on April 30, according to an ICE spokesperson. He was granted 'voluntary departure', a bureaucratic euphemism for being kicked out. 'Serigne Khabane Lame, 25, a citizen of Italy, was detained… for immigration violations,' the spokesperson confirmed in a statement. 'Lame was granted voluntary departure… and has since departed the US.' Loudon, 18, claimed that Lame was detained at Henderson Detention Center, southeast of Las Vegas proper, though its unclear how long he may have been in custody before leaving. ICE has not confirmed whether Loudon was involved in reporting Lame to authorities. has approached immigration officials for comment but did not immediately respond. Loudon has continued to celebrate his alleged role in the TikToker's removal. He made a post Wednesday afternoon denouncing various media outlets' coverage of this incident, who reportedly called him a 'rat' and a 'rat extraordinaire'. 'Why? Because I helped President Trump's DHS deport TikTok's biggest star, Khaby Lame, for being in the U.S. illegally,' he added. 'I wish Khaby well and hope he returns as a LAW-ABIDING citizen.' Loudon also did an interview with Dylan Page, another popular TikToker who has been the 'News Daddy.' In that sit-down, Loudon said he became aware of Lame's immigration status because 'he had worked with a few of my friends and business partners' who said his visa expired years ago. 'I called some people in the administration and they said "we're gonna get on this right quick,"' Loudon said. Lame is best known known for his dead-pan skits reacting to other content on the social media site. Loudon admitted that he doesn't watch much of Lame's content but said Lame has posted videos expressing a 'hatred' for Trump. 'I'm sure he hates him much more now, which is why I posted "far-left" TikToker,' he said. Lame has not commented on his detainment or his removal from the US and has continued to post videos as if nothing happened. As recently as May 5, Lame attended the Met Gala in New York City, where he wore a three piece suit with well over a dozen timepieces attached to his vest. Loudon, from Palm Beach, Florida, is the son of Dr. Gina Loudon, a conservative pundit and former co-chair of Women for Trump in 2020. His father, John Loudon, was a Republican Missouri state senator until 2008. Loudon and Barron Trump were instrumental convincing Donald Trump that it was a strategic advantage to appear on various podcasts popular with young me, including Adin Ross' show.
Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
Private market push in focus as BlackRock hosts investor day
NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab will hold an investor day on Thursday that is expected to provide insight into the asset management firm's strategic priorities and its growing focus on private markets. The world's largest asset manager, overseeing $11.58 trillion as of the end of the first quarter, last year expanded its presence in private markets through a series of acquisitions that BlackRock's boss Larry Fink said were transformational for the New York-based firm. BlackRock spent about $25 billion in 2024 on infrastructure investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners and private credit business HPS Investment Partners. It also struck a $3.2 billion deal to acquire UK data provider Preqin. That acquisition officially closed in March this year. "I think investors are going to want more granular details and more color on BlackRock's strategy to increase exposure to alternative assets," said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research who covers BlackRock. BlackRock declined to comment on the focus of its investor day. Private assets generate significantly higher fees than exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a core part of BlackRock's business through its iShares franchise. In his 2025 annual chairman's letter to shareholders, BlackRock's Chairman and CEO Fink said protectionism had returned with force as a result of a wealth divide that could be countered by offering more investors access to high-return private markets such as infrastructure and private credit. Ben Budish, an analyst at Barclays, said he expected updates from the company on potentially creating indexes based on private markets after the acquisition of private markets data provider Preqin. "Looking at what BlackRock did with iShares and ETFs, is there a way to do that with private markets? … I'm sure there's more details to come on that," he said. Private credit, where non-bank institutions lend to companies, has experienced significant growth in recent years due to stricter regulations that have increased the cost for traditional banks to fund higher-risk loans. But broader market volatility caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive stance on tariffs has led to slower dealmaking in private markets in general, raising some concerns there may be a mismatch between money available for private lending and not enough places to invest it. Investors may also look for any signs regarding succession at the firm. Fink, 72, has led BlackRock since co-founding it in 1988. A recent wave of senior executive departures has reignited speculation about his eventual successor, even as Fink has signaled no immediate plan to step down. "The firm would do itself a favor by highlighting the depth and breadth of their management bench, particularly since the company's business model is expanding and potentially becoming more complex," said Seifert.
Telegraph
29 minutes ago
- Telegraph
It would be catastrophic for America if Trump doesn't forgive Musk
It would have been hard to miss the news this month of the spat between President Trump and Elon Musk. It 'escalated quickly', as the kids say, with Elon accusing Trump of hiding his associations with Jeffrey Epstein and Trump floating the possibility of cutting off Musk's federal contracts. The dust-up ended with Musk returning, tail between his legs, to say that he was sorry. This is the second time that Musk has been reminded that the forces of Maga have more political heft than the Silicon Valley tech bros. The last time the Maga-hammer came down on Elon, it was to remind him that Trump supporters voted against increased immigration after the Tesla boss pushed for the issuance of more H1B visas to foreign workers in the technology sector. This new conflict has reignited the debates between Maga populism and Silicon Valley libertarianism. While the dispute around H1B visas may have been clear-cut – the Trump ticket does not support policies like this – the issues that led to the recent clash are far less so. Musk was raising concerns around government spending that are becoming more relevant by the day. At the centre of the dispute was the so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill', a large piece of tax and spending legislation making its way through Congress. Musk, who has spent the last few months hacking away at government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), called the bill a 'disgusting abomination'. Unlike the printing of more H1B visas, Musk and his Doge programme were certainly on the ballot when Americans voted for Trump as president. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York in September 2024, then-candidate Trump announced that he would create a government efficiency commission that would undertake a 'complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government' and propose 'drastic reforms.' Beyond this, however, the issue of government borrowing is now an acute one. Just last month chief executive of JP Morgan Chase Jamie Dimon warned that mounting debts might 'crack' the US Treasury market, which prompted US treasury secretary Scott Bessent to insist that the United States is 'never going to default'. In April, The New York Times ran a shocking headline: 'Sell-off in US Bonds and Dollar Raises Questions About 'Safe Haven' Status'. In times past, major American newspapers would be cautious about playing politics with the American financial markets. But the pressures are becoming too obvious to ignore. To get a sense of how severe this is becoming, consider the fact that the interest rate on a 10-year Treasury bond is currently 4.47 per cent. Meanwhile, the yield on a German 10-year bund is 2.53 per cent. One of the reasons that US dollar assets are so popular with investors is that they are typically confident that borrowing rates in the United States will remain low and the dollar will remain strong. This is no longer the case. Interest rates are so high in the United States that American firms are now starting to borrow in Europe. These arrangements, which have become known in financial markets as 'reverse Yankee deals', are up 34 per cent in 2025 versus 2024 to a total of €83 billion. Corporate giants, like Pfizer and Alphabet, are dumping dollar loans and borrowing in euro instead. No wonder senior bankers at the European Central Bank are seeing this as an opportunity to boost the role of the euro. What we are witnessing are some of the most dangerous developments for the dollar-based financial system since Nixon ended the convertibility of the US dollar to gold in 1971. There are multiple trends feeding into this fragility – from the weaponisation of the currency when Russian reserves were seized in 2022 to the chaos unleashed by the Trump tariffs – but it seems unlikely that any of these factors would lead to a sharp increase in interest rates unless there was already such a large debt pile. Musk and Trump need each other. Elon needs his friend in the White House to ensure that his business model, which relies heavily on federal contracts, does not collapse. And Donald needs Elon to keep his administration's eye on the ball when it comes to economic reform. It seems unlikely that Musk will be able to reverse the Big Beautiful Bill. But he should continue to be a voice in the administration because he is performing a key role: highlighting what a dangerous place the country is in financially – before it is too late.
