The Trump administration is considering an executive order creating an external board to approve or veto National Institutes of Health grants, according to reports by the Washington Post and Politico. The proposed panel would include NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and would require unanimous decisions on awards. The proposal would shift grant decisions away from the NIH's traditional evaluation of scientific merit and give political appointees a direct role in allocating congressionally appropriated research funds. It comes as researchers challenge the administration in a class-action lawsuit, alleging that grant cancellations and restrictions targeting topics such as equity, gender and climate change violate the First Amendment. Billions of dollars in federal grants have been cut or frozen since Trump began his second term, while the administration says the reductions are intended to eliminate misguided priorities and fund only solid science.