The National Science Foundation lifted a temporary hold on grants to Harvard University and other institutions this week following media inquiries, including from The New York Times.

The grant suspension had affected multiple universities, though the specific institutions and duration of the holds were not immediately clear. The NSF's decision to release the funding came after news organizations began investigating the situation.

Separately, proposed changes to federal research funding rules would give government agencies broader authority to cancel grants and modify the peer review process. Under the proposed framework, political staff would gain expanded oversight capabilities to screen research proposals for certain topics.

The proposed rules would also make peer review optional in some cases, representing a significant departure from current practices where scientific merit is typically evaluated by independent experts in relevant fields. The changes would affect how federal agencies allocate billions of dollars in research funding annually.

The timing of the grant holds and the proposed rule changes has raised questions about potential shifts in federal research funding policies, though officials have not explicitly connected the two developments.