NSF gets $150M annual mandate to fund plant biology research
H.R. 7949 — NSF Plant Biology Act · Filed by Josh Riley (D-NY) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill authorizes the National Science Foundation to award up to $150 million per year (2026–2031) in competitive grants to universities, nonprofits, private companies, and government agencies to fund research on plant and microbial biology with applications to agriculture, food production, or biotechnology. It adds a new section to the NSF Authorization Act of 2002 and clarifies the definition of 'nonprofit organization' for purposes of that law.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is authorization of competitive grants for plant and microbial biology research. It is a straightforward appropriations authorization with no hidden provisions or narrow carve-outs.
What the text implies
- Private sector entities are eligible grant recipients alongside nonprofits and universities, meaning biotechnology and agricultural companies may receive direct NSF funding for research — a potential subsidy to commercial R&D that might otherwise be privately funded.
- The bill does not specify peer-review standards, conflict-of-interest rules, or publication requirements, leaving implementation details to NSF discretion; outcomes depend on agency rulemaking.
- Authorization of $150M/year does not guarantee appropriation; actual funding depends on annual congressional budget decisions and competing priorities.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds basic research in plant and microbial biology with direct applications to food security, agricultural productivity, and biotechnology — areas that affect food costs, crop resilience, and public health. The grants are competitive and merit-reviewed, directed to a broad range of eligible recipients (universities, nonprofits, private firms, and government agencies), reducing capture risk and ensuring public benefit from the research.
Who stands to gain
- Agricultural biotechnology companies
- Plant science research institutions
- Microbiology research organizations
- Universities with plant biology programs
Named in the bill
National Science Foundation (NSF), NSF Director, Institutions of higher education, Nonprofit organizations, Private sector entities, Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3)
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Mar 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $400,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Josh Riley, the sponsor, reported $773,480 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Cornell University — $360,000 on 1 filing
- American Society of Plant Biologists — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,563 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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