Science policy this week: July 7, 2025

What’s Ahead

A chart excerpted from DOE's 2026 detailed budget request showing changes in funding between 2024 and 2025. — A chart excerpted from the Department of Energy’s 2026 budget request showing changes in funding between fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

DOE / FYI

DOE redirects FY25 money to favored programs

The Department of Energy released budget details last week that reveal the shifting of fiscal year 2025 funds away from wind and solar energy and into water and geothermal. Congress enacted $318 million for solar initiatives for FY24, but DOE plans to spend $42 million on them in FY25, representing an 87% cut. Wind energy initiatives similarly will see a 78% cut. Meanwhile, the department more than quadrupled funding for geothermal energy from FY24 levels, and water power will see a 50% increase.

Congress passed legislation earlier this year that maintained most science agencies’ topline budgets at or near the levels from FY24 but did not specify funding at the program level. Democrats overseeing DOE appropriations argued that the legislation carried forward FY24 appropriations for solar and wind energy and that DOE’s spending plan for FY25 is “in defiance” of the spending law.

The department also shifted money between programs within the Office of Science, including a 30% increase to isotope R&D and production and a 22% cut to the workforce development program from FY24 levels. Other areas will see smaller changes, including increases for nuclear physics, advanced scientific computing research, and high energy physics, and cuts to biological and environmental research and basic energy sciences.

Senate appropriators turn to science agencies this week

The Senate Appropriations Committee will meet Thursday to advance its fiscal year 2026 budget proposals for multiple science agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and NASA. The results of the meeting will preview the extent to which the Senate intends to challenge President Donald Trump’s proposed funding cuts to science in his 2026 budget request. Trump is seeking large cuts to all of these agencies, including a 56% cut to NSF and a 47% cut to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The House Appropriations Committee was set to hold similar mark-ups this week for its corresponding subcommittees, but those have been removed from the House calendar as of Monday morning.

NOAA nominees to testify

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the nominations of Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Taylor Jordan to be NOAA’s top official for environmental observation and prediction. Jacobs served as acting NOAA administrator in the first Trump administration during the scientific integrity controversy that erupted concerning the forecast of Hurricane Dorian. A later investigation concluded that Jacobs’ violated the agency’s scientific integrity policies by caving to political pressure from the White House to undermine a weather report that contradicted President Trump’s prediction that Hurricane Dorian would strike Alabama, though Jacobs disputed the investigation’s conclusion.

In the fiscal year 2026 budget request, the Trump administration is proposing to eliminate NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Some of OAR’s programs would be transferred to the National Weather Service, including the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC). During his past stint at NOAA, Jacobs said a top priority was improving weather forecasting collaboration through EPIC. One potential topic of discussion during the hearing is the NWS role in issuing warnings about the flash floods that swept through Texas last week.

Also on our radar

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services retracted its announcement that the agency would cancel its subscriptions to Springer Nature journals. The department told Nature that it is “working to develop policies that conserve taxpayer dollars and get Americans a better deal.”
NSF’s Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate is seeking comments on a new application process that aims to streamline grant applications. The plan will cater to “high-risk, high-reward ideas” and use a new application form, online portal, and selection process that NSF hopes will reduce the administrative burden on grant applicants.
House Science Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) will host a “science fair” on Tuesday showcasing the work of scientists whose grants have been canceled by the Trump administration.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a closed markup of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act this week.