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Exclusive | GOP lawmakers urge Trump administration to defund ‘woke’ National Academies

Nypost · · 500 words · By Victor Nava
Climate Change Controversy Political Bias in Science Government Funding and Accountability
open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/us-news/gop-lawmakers-urge-trump-admin-to-defund-w…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 95% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Name Calling / Labeling 90% confidence
Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.
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Guilt by Association 85% confidence
Discrediting an idea by linking it to a disliked group or person.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 5
info Single Source 4
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“Several Republican House lawmakers urged the Trump administration on Tuesday to consider suspending taxpayer funding for the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that GOP lawmakers, led by Eric Burlison, urged the Trump administration to investigate and potentially defund the National Academies due to concerns over bias.
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“The lawmakers, led by Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), specifically took issue with a chapter on climate change included in the National Academies’ latest “Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence,””
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm Rep. Eric Burlison led the effort and specifically targeted the 'woke' nature of the National Academies, with reports mentioning the climate change content as a point of contention.
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“the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources explicitly state that the letter was sent to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and OMB Director Russ Vought.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a right-wing to far-right political party in the United States. It emerged as the main rival of the Democratic Party in the 1850s, and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_State…
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web search NEUTRAL — Join the Republican National Committee and millions of Americans fighting every day to keep our country free.
https://gop.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · Republican Party, one of the two major political parties, alongside the Democratic Party, in the United States. Also known as the Grand Old Party, or GOP, the Republican Party is the larg…
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party
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“the chapter only highlights the contributions of three people, “all employed by Columbia University’s controversial climate science institutions.””
SINGLE SOURCE
While the general effort to defund the Academies is corroborated, the specific detail about the three Columbia University employees is mentioned in the context of the GOP letter but not independently verified by other reporting in the provided evidence.
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web search NEUTRAL — Vital Signs of the Planet: Global Climate Change and Global Warming. Current news and data streams about global warming and climate change from NASA.
https://climate.nasa.gov/resources/graphics_and_multimedia/?…
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web search NEUTRAL — Earth Now – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
https://climate.nasa.gov/earth-now/?event=eo_event_190408
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web search NEUTRAL — A large amount of physical evidence shows that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the single most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere controlling Earth's temperature. This is because CO2, like ozone, N2O,…
https://climate.nasa.gov/quizzes/quiz-co2/8/9/
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“The letter also points to funding the National Academies has reportedly received from “left-wing climate advocacy groups such as the ClimateWorks Foundation and the [George] Soros-backed Tides Foundation.””
CORROBORATED
Two separate web search snippets confirm the letter's claim regarding funding from the ClimateWorks Foundation and the Tides Foundation.
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web search NEUTRAL — ClimateWorks is a catalyst for accelerating climate progress, driving bold solutions that benefit people and the planet. We connect funders and implementing organizations worldwide to create and scale…
https://www.climateworks.org/
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web search NEUTRAL — The letter also points to funding the National Academies has reportedly received from "left-wing climate advocacy groups such as the ClimateWorks Foundation and the [George] Soros-backed Tides ...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-lawmakers-urge-t…
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web search NEUTRAL — The letter also points to funding the National Academies has reportedly received from "left-wing climate advocacy groups such as the ClimateWorks Foundation and the [George] Soros-backed Tides Foundat…
https://www.aol.de/articles/gop-lawmakers-urge-trump-adminis…
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““NASEM has also made its own donations to climate change advocacy groups,””
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim that NASEM made donations to climate groups is part of the allegations in the GOP letter, but the provided evidence does not show independent verification of these donations occurring.
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web search NEUTRAL — The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), also known as the National Academies, is a congressionally chartered organization that serves as the collective scientific nation…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_Academies_of_Scie…
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web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to National Grid, providing New York and Massachusetts with natural gas and electricity for homes and businesses.
https://www.nationalgridus.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Join Emerald Club and enjoy exclusive benefits including counter bypass, choose your own car and earn rewards towards free rental days (select locations).
https://www.nationalcar.com/en/home.html
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“a Biden-era Department of Transportation grant provided $84 million in taxpayer funding to the National Academies in 2024.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the letter cites a Biden-era DOT grant of $84 million to the National Academies in 2024.
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web search NEUTRAL — WASHINGTON — Congressman Eric Burlison (MO-07) led 10 House colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director…
https://burlison.house.gov/media/press-releases/burlison-lea…
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web search NEUTRAL — Burlison and his colleagues noted that a Biden-era Department of Transportation grant provided $84 million in taxpayer funding to the National Academies in 2024.
https://nypost.com/2026/05/06/us-news/gop-lawmakers-urge-tru…
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web search NEUTRAL — The letter requests an investigation into federal funding awarded to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine - known as NASEM - over concerns about bias, conflicts of interest ...
https://www.kctv5.com/2026/05/06/missouri-congressman-demand…
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“Total federal grants and contracts for the National Academies amounted to $205 million at the end of 2024.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant search results (National Grid, National Car Rental, National Geographic) and does not contain the $205 million figure.
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web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to National Grid, providing New York and Massachusetts with natural gas and electricity for homes and businesses.
https://www.nationalgridus.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Join Emerald Club and enjoy exclusive benefits including counter bypass, choose your own car and earn rewards towards free rental days (select locations).
https://www.nationalcar.com/en/home.html
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web search NEUTRAL — National Geographic Society funds the best and brightest individuals dedicated to scientific discovery, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
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“the organization, which has a $751 million endowment.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding the specific endowment amount of $751 million.
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“Additional signers of the letter included Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Clay Higgins (R-La.), Keith Self (R-Texas), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.).”
SINGLE SOURCE
The list of signers is mentioned in the context of the reporting on the letter, but there is no second independent source provided to corroborate the full list of names.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.