PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jan 15, 2025
No Subsidies for Wealthy Universities Act
This bill limits the indirect costs that are allowable under federal research awards to institutions of higher education (IHEs) with endowments above specified thresholds. (Generally, indirect costs represent expenses that are not specific to a research project but are needed to maintain the infrastructure and administrative support for federally funded research.)
Specifically, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) must annually collect information regarding the endowments of each IHE that has entered into a program participation agreement with the Department of Education.
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With this collected information, NCES must identify and make lists of (1) each IHE with an endowment of more than $5 billion, and (2) each IHE with an endowment of more than $2 billion (but not more than $5 billion). NCES must submit these lists to the Office of Management and Budget, which must then distribute the lists to federal agencies, Congress, and the public.
The bill establishes the following limits on the indirect costs allowable under federal research awards:
for an IHE with an endowment of more than $5 billion, the IHE is prohibited from using these awards for indirect costs;
for an IHE with an endowment of more than $2 billion (but not more than $5 billion), the IHE is limited to an indirect cost rate of 8%; and
for all other IHEs, an indirect cost rate of 15%.
The Government Accountability Office must annually report to Congress on indirect cost reimbursement on federal research awards for IHEs.
People & committees
Rep. Cline, Ben [R-VA-6] · R–VA
Legislative record
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Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 19, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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