Contributed by: Preservation Action
Organization: Preservation Action
Dated Posted: July 26, 2026
Website: Visit External Site

This week Preservation Action submitted a comment letter on a harmful proposal from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that would reshape how federal grants, including critically important preservation grants, are disbursed.

The more than 400 page proposal would require political appointees to review all discretionary grant awards to ensure they "demonstrably advance the President's policy priorities" and vastly expand the administration's authority to suspend or cancel those grants. The proposed revisions also include a prohibition on federal grant funding on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

As we noted in our comments, the cumulative effect of unbounded discretion, added burden, politicized award decisions, and ambiguous content restrictions would undermine, rather than strengthen, federal grant administration. Preservation grants rely on clear and stable program criteria to operate effectively, not on ambiguous rules and priorities that change from one administration to the next.

We urged OMB to revise the proposed rule to preserve clear statutory grounding for award decisions, minimize new burdens, and remove ambiguity that could have a chilling effect on preservation work.

The proposed rule received nearly 500,000 comments with an estimated 95% of participants opposed to the proposal. Check out Preservation Action's comment letter below to learn more.