The US House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding measure on Tuesday that keeps the federal government running through early December, and buried within it is a provision blocking the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from imposing controversial new rules over research funding. The rules would have handed political appointees sweeping power to dictate which science gets funded and to cancel grants at will, a prospect that had alarmed scientific and health organisations. Although the measure still needs President Trump's signature, he is widely expected to sign it to avoid a shutdown ahead of the midterm elections.

The protection made it into law somewhat by accident: House Republicans failed to agree on their own funding bill, so the chamber instead adopted a version the Senate had already passed in early August. Senators Patty Murray (Democrat, Washington) and Susan Collins (Republican, Maine) had inserted language into that Senate bill preventing OMB from enacting the grant-control rules before the stopgap expires on 11 December. The measure passed the Senate 90-6 and the House 370-48, with House opposition focused on unrelated issues, suggesting similar safeguards could be included in future budget deals without much resistance.