For years, the federal government handed out money for important scientific research based on racially-focused “diversity” goals and requirements.  Since beginning his second term in office, President Donald Trump has moved to banish diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from the federal grant process through executive orders. Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina, wants to ensure those racially-focused requirements, once implemented by the nation’s largest funders of scientific research, do not return.   “Taxpayer-funded research should be awarded based on merit, innovation, and results, not DEI-driven activist handouts,” Norman told The Daily Wire. “Americans are tired of watching universities prioritize ideological checkboxes over achievement.” Norman, running in the South Carolina governor’s race on an anti-DEI platform, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health from using DEI requirements or diversity mandates when deciding which scientific projects to fund.  The bill, known as the Merit Restoration Act, states that federal research agencies “may not use any prohibited diversity, equity, or inclusion practice in awarding, evaluating, or continuing a Federal research grant.” In archived pages, the National Science Foundation, which has an annual budget of more than $8 billion, said one of the agency’s main priorities was increasing the participation of “underrepresented groups” and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  This focus was reflected in the agency’s Broadening Participation in Engineering program, designed to increase the involvement of racial and sexual minorities in engineering. It defined underrepresented races as people who are black, Hispanic, American Indians, and Pacific Islander.    Other NSF grants have also been used to fund travel to academic conferences that gave “priority” for scholarships to individuals from “underrepresented groups.”  Another example listed by Norman’s office was an NIH research education program focused on “educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research.” These types of programs came as NIH had an official statement on its “interest in diversity” that said that it encouraged “institutions to diversify their student and faculty populations to enhance the participation of individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences.” That NIH page has been deleted as the Trump administration has moved to eliminate DEI-focused funding. The Trump administration has also faced litigation over its decision to terminate more than 1,000 grants related to DEI or radical gender ideology. In December 2025, the agency agreed to a settlement to review grants on a standardized case-by-case basis. Many of the projects impacted were kept sealed from the public record, making it difficult to determine exactly which grants were involved. “Federal research dollars should support the strongest proposals and the best science, whether in medicine, engineering, or scientific innovation, not political agendas,” Norman told The Daily Wire. “That’s what taxpayers expect and deserve.”