Washington’s grant-industrial complex has discovered a new theory: Once Congress appropriates money, unelected reviewers and recipients, and not executive officials accountable for administering the law, should control where it goes.

That is the premise behind a letter written by Senate Democrats demanding that the Office of Management and Budget withdraw its governmentwide grant reforms to Part 200, a Washington Post article warning that the rule could end scientific dominance, and a note that the rule change proposal is creating a new patronage system.