All government shutdowns disrupt science − in 2025, the consequences extend far beyond a lapse in funding

U.S. science always suffers during government shutdowns. Funding lapses send government scientists home without pay^[1]. Federal agencies suspend^[2] new grant opportunities, place expert review panels on hold, and stop collecting and analyzing critical public datasets^[3] that tell us about the economy^[4], the environment^[5] and public health^[6].

In 2025, the stakes are higher than in past shutdowns.

This shutdown arrives at a time of massive upheaval^[7] to American science and innovation driven by President Donald Trump’s ongoing attempts^[8] to extend executive power^[9] and assert political control^[10] of scientific institutions^[11].

With the shutdown entering its fifth week, and with no end in sight^[12], the Trump administration’s rapid and contentious changes to federal research policy are rewriting the social contract^[13] between the U.S. government and research universities – where the government provides funding and autonomy in exchange for the promise of downstream public benefits.

As a physicist^[14] and policy scholar^[15], I both study and have a vested interest in the state of U.S. science funding^[16] as a recipient of federal grants. I write about the history^[17] and governance^[18] of American science policy^[19], including the nation’s investments^[20] in research and development.

In the context of broader policy reforms to federal grantmaking^[21], student^[22] and high-skilled^[23] immigration^[24], and scientific integrity^[25], this shutdown has both known and unknown consequences for the future of U.S. science^[26].

Funding freezes, data gaps and unpaid workers

Over the past two decades, the story of government shutdowns^[27] has become all too familiar^[28]. Shutdowns occur when Congress fails to pass an appropriations bill before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, and, paraphrasing Article 1, Section 9^[29] of the U.S. Constitution, the government can no longer spend money.

This funding gap affects all but essential government operations, such as the work of postal workers^[30], air traffic controllers^[31] and satellite operators^[32]. Nonessential employees, including tens of thousands^[33] of government scientists, are barred from working and stop receiving paychecks.

With scientists and program officers at home, activities at the nearly two dozen federal agencies participating in research and development, such as the National Science Foundation^[34] and the National Institutes of Health^[35], come to a halt. New grant opportunities and review panels are postponed or canceled^[36], researchers at government laboratories stop collecting and analyzing data^[37], and university projects reliant on federal funding are put at risk^[38].

Extended shutdowns accelerate the damage. They leave bigger gaps in government data, throw federal employees into debt^[39] or lead them to dip into their savings^[40], and force academic institutions to lay off staff^[41] paid through government grants and contracts.

Funding, public services and the rule of law

Even for shutdowns lasting a few days, it can take science agencies months to catch up^[42] on the backlog of paperwork, paychecks and peer review panels before they return to regular operations.

This year, the government faces mounting challenges to overcome once the shutdown ends: Trump and the director of the White House budget office, Russell Vought, are using the shutdown as an opportunity^[43] to “shutter the bureaucracy^[44]” and pressure universities to bend^[45] to the administration’s ideological positions on topics such as campus speech, gender identity and admission standards.

As the budget standoff nears the record for the longest shutdown ever^[46], agency furloughs^[47], reductions in force^[48], canceled grants^[49] and jeopardized infrastructure projects^[50] document the devastating and immediate damage to the government’s ability to serve the public.