As part of the Office of Government Relations’ ongoing work to track federal policy developments affecting the Duke community, this update provides a high-level review of legislative and administrative activity over the past several months. The summary below builds on earlier OGR coverage and highlights more recent developments across budget and appropriations, research, student aid, immigration, tax, and broader policy engagement.

Budget and Appropriations

The second session of the 119th Congress began with lawmakers focused on finalizing the FY 26 appropriations process ahead of the January 31 deadline, resulting in full-year funding for all agencies except the Department of Homeland Security. Shortly thereafter, the White House released President Donald Trump’s FY 27 Presidential Budget Request (PBR). As we covered in our initial DC Digest following the release of the PBR, the Trump Administration proposes a major $1.5 trillion increase to the defense budget and a 10 percent cut to non-defense discretionary funding. It also prioritizes investments in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and critical minerals.

See below for the most up-to-date funding priorities chart.

Throughout the last three months, Congress has passed funding for all agencies except the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is currently experiencing the longest ongoing shutdown in US history as lawmakers failed to reach a funding agreement before leaving for spring recess. While President Donald Trump signed an executive order providing back pay to TSA agents, the resolution of the broader DHS funding lapse remained uncertain.

Research

At the same time, Congress advanced its work on longer-term commitments to federal research capacity through several major reauthorization efforts.

Among the bills reauthorized or up for reauthorization:

  • National Quantum Initiative Act:
    • Introduced in January and co-sponsored by Senator Ted Budd (R-NC), the bill would restore the federal funding framework, which lapsed in September 2023. The bill would support five more years of coordinated efforts across agencies, including $85 million per year for the National Institute of Standards and Technology and $25 million per year for NASA.
  • NASA Reauthorization Act:
    • Introduced in February, the bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by the ranking member of the space subcommittee, Valerie Foushee (D-NC), would reauthorize the agency for one year. Provisions of interest in the bill include several reporting requirements for programs such as Blue Origin and SpaceX, as well as milestones achieved. Notably, the bill does not mandate major changes to Artemis or other NASA programs.
  • SBIR/STTR reauthorization bill:
    • Also introduced in February, this bill reinstates the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, which expired last fall. The programs support small businesses with research and development through seed funding. It was passed by the House last month and signed into law by President Trump.

In National Institutes of Health (NIH) news, United for Medical Research released its annual report in March detailing the economic impact of NIH research funding. In North Carolina, the NIH awarded $1.71 billion in grants and contracts during FY25 that directly supported 18,537 jobs and $4.29 billion in economic activity. We covered more details in our digest.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya was appointed to serve concurrently as Acting Director of the CDC, while the CDC’s former acting director was nominated to lead the National Science Foundation.

At the Department of Energy (DOE), the agency announced a departmental reorganization aimed at increasing agility and responsiveness, noting that the realignment will begin immediately and continue over the coming months. Among other changes, DOE plans to combine its High Energy Physics and Nuclear Physics programs into a single office.

Earlier this year, the DOE also announced it had formalized the realignment of various programs related to critical minerals and other energy innovation programs. In its announcement, the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) said it will be divided into three pillars: the Office of Critical Minerals, Materials, and Manufacturing; the Office of Energy Technology; and the Office of Innovation, Affordability, and Consumer Choice. The realignment of CMEI’s constituent programs follows the renaming and reorganization of the office in November 2025.

Student Aid

In student aid, much of the federal activity was informed by the negotiated rulemaking sessions aimed at implementing provisions from the One Big Beautiful Bill, which passed through reconciliation last summer.  This work continues the issues covered in our year-in-review legislative activity blog. The Department of Education’s next Negotiated Rulemaking Committee will focus on accreditation and meet in April and May.

This March, the Department of Education closed its comment period on its proposed loan-limit regulations from negotiated rulemaking. Comments from lawmakers and higher education stakeholders, including Duke, urged revisions to the rule’s definition of “professional” degree programs. Issued in January, the proposal would classify only 11 post‑baccalaureate programs as professional, limiting borrowers in other graduate programs to reduced annual and lifetime loan amounts. Following the close of that comment period, the Department opened a separate 30‑day comment period on proposed regulations to implement the Workforce Pell Grant program, which we covered in a previous digest.

In other student loan news, the Department of Education instructed borrowers enrolled in the SAVE program to transition to a different repayment option, following a court decision that terminated the program.

Additionally, there has been back-and-forth on the administration’s Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement (ACTS) survey. Most recently, a federal judge blocked the Education Department from enforcing the survey in 17 states–which we’ve covered in previous digests–halting requirements for public colleges to submit detailed admissions data disaggregated by race and gender going back seven years. While the court acknowledged that the federal government generally has authority to collect admissions data, it found that the ACTS survey was implemented in a manner that was “arbitrary and capricious.” Following this ruling, several higher education associations, including the Association of American Universities (AAU) and North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU), were granted a motion to intervene on behalf of their members, including Duke. The judge extended the deadline for submitting data for schools covered by the latest motion to intervene to April 24. AAU has set up a page to track ongoing legal updates, available here.

Immigration

At the end of last year, President Donald Trump issued a $100,000 visa fee for workers seeking an H-1B visa, a fee that a judge ultimately upheld. Challengers to the six-figure H-1B visa fee argued that the high court’s decision bolsters arguments against the H-1B fee. We covered in March that the DC Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case, which is led by the US Chamber of Commerce along with the Association of American Universities (AAU), of which Duke is a member.

Earlier this year, we covered the State Department’s announcement of a pause on the issuance of immigrant visas at U.S. consulates worldwide starting January 21, 2026, for nationals of 75 countries that DOS deems are “at high risk of public benefits usage.”

Additional Items

Other higher education items of interest include the launch of the State and Education Departments’ partnership to track foreign funding at universities. A new portal was announced for universities to report contracts and donations from foreign sources under federal law. The shift is part of a broader series of program transfers the Department has undertaken, including the transfer of student loan duties to the Department of the Treasury.

Harvard was the subject of new federal agency attention this March, including one lawsuit from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a new investigation from the Department of Education into its admissions practices.

Trump Administration Staffing

Over the last three months, the Trump administration has seen a change in two major cabinet positions. In March of this year, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was reassigned to a new position, and former Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) replaced her.

Attorney General Pam Bondi was dismissed, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took over as acting AG.