Flood of comments on White House grantmaking overhaul is largely negative, analysis shows

Article excerpt

An analysis of a torrent of public comments submitted on a White House proposal to change the way federal contracts and grants are doled out shows a widespread rebuke of the potential change by scientists and others.  The analysis, done by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partnership with STAT, used a large language model to classify whether a comment was supportive or in opposition and to identify themes mentioned in comments. It found that about 95% were in opposition and just 1% supported the proposed changes to the “Uniform Guidance.” A total of 496,769 public comments were submitted before the deadline of Monday at midnight, and an analysis of the 52,322 comments that have been posted in full show an overwhelming rebuke of the proposal.  Read the res