Congress’s NASA and NSF Budgets Counter Trump, Fund Science

Above is an artist’s concept of NASA’s VERITAS Venus orbiter — one of the missions that the House and Senate budget drafts are putting back in play. Credit: NASA / GSFC

The first glimmer of hope for space scientists arrived earlier this month as Congress released the first drafts of its funding plans for NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The move is the next key step in passing 2026 budgets for the agencies. While the budgets need to be debated, consolidated, and eventually signed into law by President Trump by September 30th — any part of which is far from guaranteed — scientists are taking any bit of optimism they can get.

Planetary climate scientist Michael Battalio (Yale University) says he is feeling “heartened [and] somewhat relieved.” But even lighter cuts will still be damaging due to the costs of inflation, he adds. “They’re only cutting off one of our appendages instead of cutting us off at the torso.”

Both agencies will be funded within a larger bill called the Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. In a strong rebuttal of the White House’s request to slash NASA science by 47%, down to $3.9 billion, the Senate draft proposed keeping NASA science funding at roughly current levels ($7.3 billion), while the House draft suggested 19% cuts (down to $6 billion). The NSF, which funds science like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, was up for a 40% funding cut under Trump’s budget; the Senate suggested funding it at $9 billion (less than a percentage cut), and the House suggested $7 billion (a 23% cut).

Saying that the budgets are “‘the elephant in the room’ doesn’t even really begin to describe it,” says astrophysicist Mike Boylan-Kolchin (University of Texas at Austin). “There’s just no way around thinking about this or having this in the background.”

(Source: skyandtelescope)