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In this article, Professor Yossi Sheffi examines a proposed rule from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget that would change how the U.S. government evaluates, approves, and manages research grants to academic institutions. Key provisions of the rule require that grant applications be evaluated for compliance with the national interest and the priorities of the executive branch. Prof. Sheffi argues that the proposed rule, despite the hysterical reactions it has elicited, is far from the first or most extreme instance of politics affecting grant funding, pointing to recent political interference by the Biden administration and the tendency toward groupthink endemic in the modern peer-review system. Prof. Sheffi calls for evaluation of scientific work based on merit over political considerations, and proposes improvements to the peer-review process that would improve the quality of published results.