FEDERAL CUTS IMPACT TEXAS A&M

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Federal funding cuts have significantly disrupted research, outreach, and sustainability efforts at Texas A&M University in College Station. Here's how:

 

Texas A&M has seen major losses from USDA-funded climate-smart agriculture grants. A $65 million award through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities was abruptly canceled, undermining research and outreach led by the university’s AgriLife Research division on practices like cover cropping and soil regeneration that benefit Central Texas producers.

 

In tandem, proposed cuts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) threatened to drastically reduce support for research infrastructure by slashing permitted indirect cost rates from over 50 percent down to just 15 percent. That far exceeded NIH’s historical norms and would have devastated Texas A&M’s ability to fund essential facilities, staff, and administrative support for biomedical research. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in response, but uncertainty remains.

 

These funding disruptions have introduced significant uncertainty into the research climate at Texas A&M. Although the university continues to coordinate closely with principal investigators and government offices, administrators confirm that several NEH grants have already been terminated or paused, negating planned support for ongoing projects . The cumulative effect: researchers face looming funding gaps, halted or delayed studies, and a scramble for alternative resources.

 

Leadership at Texas A&M concurs that these federal cuts strain the institution’s ability to serve its mission. University President Mark Welsh and Provost Alan Sams have said in public and internal briefings that the cuts not only threaten major research initiatives, but also risk weakening university capacity to support faculty, staff, and students across academic and outreach programs.

 

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