Dear Dr. [[contact.last_name]],
On October 1, Congress was unable to reach a deal on a stopgap spending measure to avert a government shutdown before Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 began at midnight. As a result of this lapse in appropriations, federal agencies will cease all non-exempt activities as determined by the administration until new government funding legislation is enacted. More than 32,000 employees across the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) will be furloughed, and the remainder of HHS’s 80,000 employees will work without pay. While the determination of which activities are exempted and therefore continue during a shutdown is discretionary, activities protecting human life and property, those related to the performance of constitutional duties, and those funded by other revenue sources (e.g., multi-year appropriations or user fees) will typically be exempted from work stoppages. The HHS staffing contingency plan for FY26 provides additional details on the types of activities that will and will not continue.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a notice titled “Information for the NIH Extramural Community During the Lapse of Federal Government Funding.” The notice reiterates some information from the staffing plan and provides some additional information about the status of key NIH activities: - Related to the management of current, active grants, eRA Commons and grants.gov will be operational but with no technical support. It is expected that the drawdown of funds will continue to be available but technical problems and manual approval requirements could delay access to funds. Reporting deadlines for grantees remain in place without extension, even if no NIH staff can review the submissions during furlough.
No-cost extension notifications for grants that will lapse during the shutdown should be submitted as usual but those that require preapproval will not be reviewed.
- For grant applications responding to active notices of funding opportunity, submission deadlines do not change but NIH staff will not be available to answer questions or respond to technical difficulties.
- The Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare will not continue any activities during the shutdown.
- No NIH grant peer review meetings, advisory council meetings, issuance of new awards, and program/grants management activities will occur.
- New patients will not be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center (unless deemed medically necessary by the NIH Clinical Center Director).
- NIH will not hold scientific meetings at NIH facilities and NIH scientists will not travel to scientific meetings.
- Almost all NIH administrative functions will stop, including the onboarding of non-excepted staff, and many NIH employees will be unable to review or respond to emails, telephone calls, or mail.
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Society for Pediatric Research®. All rights reserved. 8000 Research Forest Dr, Suite 115 PMB 289, The Woodlands, United States, 77382 Phone: (346) 980-9710 Email: [email protected]
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