Trump Wants to Blacklist Climate Science

Donald Trump is threatening one of America’s most respected scientific institutions for telling the truth about climate change.

Trump has ordered federal officials to consider suspending or debarring the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—potentially shutting the institution out of federal contracts and other awards for years. 

He accused the Academies of producing “climate fraud” but offered no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct.

The real offense appears to be publishing climate science that fossil fuel interests do not want judges—or the public—to see.

The National Academies recently co-produced a scientific reference manual explaining climate change to federal judges. After Republican attorneys general complained, the Federal Judicial Center removed the climate chapter from its version. The Academies refused to erase it from their own website.

Then, just days before Trump’s threat, the Academies released a major report examining how scientists can determine climate change’s role in extreme weather events. That research could help communities seeking to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for deadly heat waves, floods, wildfires, and other climate disasters.

Now the administration appears to be using the enormous power of federal funding to intimidate scientists and obstruct climate accountability.

Suspension and debarment are supposed to protect taxpayers from contractors that engage in fraud or serious misconduct. They must not be turned into political weapons against independent researchers whose findings threaten powerful industries or contradict the president’s agenda.

Congress chartered the National Academy of Sciences in 1863 to provide the nation with independent, evidence-based advice. Lawmakers now have a responsibility to defend that independence against this attack from the White House.

Scientific conclusions must be determined by evidence—not by presidential decree or fossil fuel pressure.

Please sign the petition to tell Congress to investigate this threatened retaliation and include language in upcoming spending legislation prohibiting federal funds from being used to suspend, debar, or otherwise punish the National Academies because of their climate research or scientific conclusions. Congress should also protect continued funding for independent scientific work and call on the Federal Judicial Center to restore the climate chapter to its manual.

The petition to Congress reads: Investigate the Trump administration’s threatened retaliation against the National Academies and prohibit federal funds from being used to punish the institution for its climate research or scientific conclusions. Protect independent science and urge the Federal Judicial Center to restore accurate climate information to its scientific manual for judges.

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Source:

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2026/07/21/trump-threatens-national-academies-with-debarment-heres-what-it-is-01005303