Federal Government Transition Update

General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III
President

January 28, 2025

Faculty and Staff,

As the federal government transitions to a new administration, I want to assure you that we are closely monitoring and reviewing policies, regulations and executive orders, in addition to pending legislation, for potential impacts to the university.

With a wide range of policy directives coming from the federal government, we are working in partnership with The Texas A&M University System Office of Governmental Relations and Office of General Counsel to understand the impacts of these decisions on the university, our state agencies and your work. Also, we are working collaboratively with the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), Council of Government Relations (COGR), American Council on Education (ACE) and other organizations to understand federal policy changes and advocate on behalf of our institution and higher education.

On Jan. 27, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo calling for a temporary pause to certain financial assistance while agencies conduct “a comprehensive analysis of their federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.” As a result, several key federal agencies began reaching out to universities and other federally funded entities, including Texas A&M University, with initial agency-specific guidance. We have created a webpage to capture the latest information, which links to other resources, including more information from the Division of Research with guidance on research project impacts. We expect individual agencies to continue providing guidance related to our work with that particular agency and will keep this information updated.

We understand there is a substantial amount of information coming from various sources as policies change and that information is traveling quickly. Expect to hear from me, the Provost, the Vice President for Research and other leaders about how these policy changes affect you to ensure we continue upholding all federal and state laws.

While our teams analyze all potential implications, I encourage you to share any direct impacts to your unit or program with Michael J. Hardy, Deputy Chief Government Relations Officer and Director of Federal Relations, so he can help us ensure federal officials are informed. We will continue to keep you updated as we receive additional information. Thank you for the important work you do each day to carry out our research, teaching and service mission. I’m truly honored to work alongside the best faculty and staff at the greatest university in the nation.

r/mark
General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III, President