By Kritika Agarwal
On Thursday, July 17, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY26 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act on a 19-10 vote. If enacted by Congress, the bill would provide $9 billion for the National Science Foundation and $24.9 billion for NASA, including $7.3 billion for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
The committee’s passage of the bill indicates that the Senate is likely to preserve current funding levels for both agencies despite the massive cuts proposed by the Trump administration. (The president’s budget request included $3.9 billion for NSF and $18.8 billion for NASA.)
AAU President Barbara R. Snyder issued a statement thanking the committee for maintaining funding for both agencies at current levels and “for recognizing the importance of these critical research agencies to sustaining America’s global scientific and technological leadership.”
During the committee’s markup, senators from both parties also indicated support for restoring some research grants that had been terminated by NSF earlier this year. According to Science, while the panel rejected an amendment proposed by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to restore the grants, several Republican senators promised to continue working on the amendment and to bring it later to the Senate floor for a vote. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) said: “I share the senator’s concerns about the apparent arbitrary nature of these grant terminations and would like to work with you to expand the grounds for exclusion.”
The House Appropriations Committee and its various subcommittees have also begun approving bills that will shape the budgets of science agencies during the next fiscal year:
The House Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee advanced its bill on Tuesday, July 15. The House’s CJS bill provides $7 billion for NSF, a 23% cut from the FY25 enacted level but not as deep as the 56% cut proposed by President Trump in his budget request.
The bill holds NASA funding flat at $24.8 billion; however, it reduces funding for the NASA Science Mission Directorate by 18% and by 17% each for the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate.
- The full House Appropriations Committee approved the FY26 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act on Thursday, July 17, by a vote of 35-27. The bill provides $8.4 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Science, which is $160 million more than the FY25 enacted level. (The president had requested $7.1 billion.)
- The House Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee advanced its bill on Tuesday, July 15. The bill includes cuts for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities (each $135 million, or 35% below their FY25 enacted levels). The president had proposed eliminating funding for the two agencies altogether.
Congress must approve 12 appropriations bills by September 30 in order to fund the federal government’s discretionary spending for FY26. Even though the appropriations process is now well underway, lawmakers face significant challenges ahead. The differing spending totals coming out of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees mean that lawmakers will have to work together to reconcile their differences further down the road.
Some Republican lawmakers are also concerned at the fact that the spending levels being reported out of the House Appropriations Committee are frequently higher than President Trump’s budget request. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) has acknowledged the challenges and indicated that he will likely postpone work on the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill to September.
Democrats are also upset at the rescissions package that the Senate just passed to claw back funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. In a “Dear Colleague” letter sent earlier this month, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) noted that Senate Republicans cannot expect Democrats to “engage in a bipartisan appropriations process to fund the government, while they concurrently plot to pass a purely partisan rescissions bill to defund those same programs negotiated on a bipartisan basis behind the scenes.”
As the process unfolds, AAU will continue reminding members of Congress of the immense importance of including robust funding for scientific research and higher education in the FY26 appropriations bills.
Kritika Agarwal is assistant vice president for communications at AAU.