The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposes to revise the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance to improve government- wide policies and requirements related to the management of grants, cooperative agreements, and other forms of assistance. OMB is proposing revisions that would improve transparency, accountability, and oversight for Federal awards across the Federal Government. This includes ensuring that American tax dollars are not wasted or misused, activities performed under Federal awards are consistent with law and policy, and recipients are held accountable when they fail to meet relevant standards. The revisions also aim to ensure that basic American principles of equality and equal opportunity are upheld throughout all stages of the award making process and that unlawful discrimination is no longer permitted. Proposed changes also include providing further clarification on the regulatory status of the OMB requirements and on the process for future updates to the government- wide requirements. Finally, OMB also proposes changes to reduce recipient burden. The listed Federal grant-making agencies propose conforming changes to their respective adopting regulations, or, in the case of some agencies and other entities, establishing new adopting regulations or policies. The proposed changes reflect the administration's commitment to transparency, accountability, and proper oversight for the Federal grantmaking process. The proposed regulations seek to ensure that American tax dollars are ultimately used to serve the needs of the American public.
Comments close Jul 13, 2026
We are revising the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate claims involving cardiovascular disorders in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The revisions reflect our adjudicative experience, advances in medical knowledge, and comments we received from the public in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).
Section 701 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA) imposed new maximum civil monetary penalty (CMP) amounts for infractions of agency rules, and required federal agencies that impose CMPs to adjust these new maximum figures annually for inflation. This final rule adopts without change the regulatory text in the interim final rule that we published in the Federal Register on June 27, 2016.
This rule rescinds obsolete drug addiction and alcoholism (DAA) regulations.
This final rule makes limited nomenclature changes to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to conform with Executive Order (E.O.) 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. This change will remove and replace the term "gender" with the term "sex" in the regulatory text of the Listing of Impairments that we use to evaluate disability claims under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act).
We are extending the expiration dates of the following body systems in the Listing of Impairments (listings) in our regulations: Low Birth Weight and Failure to Thrive, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Special Senses and Speech, Respiratory Disorders, Cardiovascular System, Genitourinary Disorders, Hematological Disorders, Endocrine Disorders, Congenital Disorders That Affect Multiple Body Systems, Neurological Disorders, Mental Disorders, Cancer (Malignant Neoplastic Diseases), and Immune System Disorders. We are making no other revisions to these body systems in this final rule. This extension ensures that we will continue to have the criteria we need to evaluate impairments in the affected body systems at step three of the sequential evaluation processes for initial claims and continuing disability reviews.
We are extending the flexibility in the "close proximity of time" standard, as defined in two prior temporary final rules (TFR), through May 11, 2029. We issued a TFR providing the "close proximity of time" flexibility on July 23, 2021, because the COVID-19 national public health emergency (PHE) caused many individuals to experience barriers that prevented them from timely accessing in-person healthcare. On September 29, 2023, we extended the flexibility to evaluate evolving healthcare practices and consumption in a post-PHE environment. We determined that we need additional time to fully evaluate still-evolving healthcare practices after the PHE. We are therefore issuing this TFR to extend the "close proximity of time" flexibility until May 11, 2029, so we can continue to evaluate changes in healthcare practices and determine the proper "close proximity of time" standard for the musculoskeletal disorders listings.
