Where Congress is Splitting from Trump on Science Funding

On a bipartisan basis, Senate appropriators are seeking near-level funding for several science agencies in the upcoming fiscal year, which is at odds with the Trump administration’s push for deep cuts. Meanwhile, House appropriators’ topline proposals for science agencies, advanced with only Republican support, generally fall between those of the Senate and the administration. But even House Republicans are showing a willingness to diverge sharply with the administration, seeking increases for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and Office of Nuclear Energy.

The House and Senate appropriations committees have released their respective versions of the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which covers the National Science Foundation, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Detailed funding proposals are contained in the House report and Senate report accompanying each bill. (The House committee planned to approve its CJS bill this week, but instead went on recess starting Wednesday through the end of August.)

The House committee has also advanced its Energy-Water bill, which covers DOE, and released the accompanying report. The Senate has not yet released its Energy-Water bill, but plans to mark up its Defense and Labor-HHS-Education bills next week. Detailed budget numbers can be found in FYI’s Federal Science Budget Tracker.

Spending bills in both chambers also appear to push against some of the administration’s other cost-cutting efforts, including reductions in force and attempts to cap indirect cost rates.

Selected science agency highlights

DOE science ‘high priority’ in House bill: The House Appropriations Committee approved its Energy-Water bill with a 2% increase for DOE’s Office of Science, compared to a 14% cut proposed in the president’s request. Much of this reduction would have come from a more than 50% cut to biological and environmental research, for which the House has proposed an 8% cut. The bill report states that the committee “has placed a high priority” on funding the Office of Science, given that the private sector is unlikely to fund research with “high non-commercial value.” The House proposal also increases contributions to the multinational ITER fusion research facility, while the president’s request would cut ITER contributions by more than half and increase funding for domestic research and operations. The cut to ITER would be “aligned with a reassessment of how ITER fits in the overall U.S. fusion strategy, including reviewing partnerships and investment approaches,” the request states.

The House bill would increase funding for nuclear energy while the administration proposes a cut of about 25%. For DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the House bill does not eliminate funding for solar and wind initiatives, as proposed in the president’s request, but still proposes an almost 50% cut to the office.

Congress seeks consensus on indirect costs: The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee amended the CJS bill to direct agencies to continue using the current indirect cost rates negotiated with higher education institutions rather than implementing caps, as several agencies have attempted to do this year. They also added text to the bill report that “notes the academic research community’s efforts to develop a consensus proposal” on indirect costs. Similarly, the House Energy-Water report directs DOE to pause its implementation of a 15% cap while it works to develop a new indirect cost policy with stakeholders. “A blanket indirect cost rates policy, while well-intentioned, does not fully address the unique nature of the department’s research and development work,” the report states.

Notice of reductions in force: The Senate CJS report directs all of its funded agencies to notify the committee of any planned reductions in force 90 days before carrying them out, while the House CJS report requests a 30-day notice.

Senate moves to protect NSF’s broadening participation programs: The bill indicates that senators want to keep funding programs related to women and underrepresented minorities in NSF’s STEM Education Directorate. As part of its internal review for compliance with Trump’s anti-DEI executive order, NSF said it would continue to operate broadening participation programs that make use of protected characteristics such as race and gender if the programs are “prioritized” in appropriations language. The Senate bill specifies amounts for several of NSF’s STEM diversity programs, and the report expresses support for broadening participation programs, adding, “The committee is deeply concerned that entrenched financial barriers are increasingly deterring students, particularly those from underrepresented communities, from pursuing STEM careers.” The House bill does not specify amounts for these programs and accepts the administration’s proposal to consolidate NSF’s funding for STEM education into the general research funding line.

The Senate bill proposes that NSF receive $9 billion, a slight cut from the $9.06 billion budget that Congress enacted for fiscal year 2025 but a slight increase over the final budget when accounting for the $234 million that President Donald Trump eliminated from NSF’s construction budget in March. By contrast, the House bill would cut NSF’s budget by about 20%, while the Trump administration is seeking a more than 50% cut.

Senate pushes forward on major NSF projects: The Senate bill report says the committee “rejects” the administration’s proposal to close one of the two existing Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) sites, instead providing not less than $49 million to keep operating both LIGO facilities. A closure would “completely undermine Nobel Prize-winning observations into gravitational waves,” the report adds. It also directs NSF to advance both Extremely Large Telescope projects to the final design stage, despite the administration’s intent to only advance one. The House bill report expresses general support for the ELT project, but does not recommend a specific course of action.

Both chambers preserve NOAA’s main research arm: The Senate and House bills maintain funding for NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which the White House has sought to shutter. The president’s request proposed moving a small portion of OAR’s programs to other departments and eliminating the rest. “While the committee could be open to realigning some programs to enhance operational outcomes, the absence of detailed plans hinders informed decision-making,” the Senate report states. The Senate bill also directs NOAA to report to the committee on leases for the NOAA headquarters building and any leases for NOAA facilities that were terminated during fiscal year 2025.

Congress backs NASA missions slated for cancellation: Senate appropriators propose near-level funding for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, compared to an 18% cut in the House proposal and a nearly 50% cut in the president’s budget request. The Senate report states that the committee rejects the president’s proposed termination of 55 missions across the science directorate and of the STEM engagement office. It also directs NASA to “maintain the fullest possible use” of the International Space Station through the end of its life, while the president’s request proposed reducing ISS to minimal operations. The House proposal would continue funding the Mars Sample Return mission, which the administration proposes canceling. Both bills continue funding for the Space Launch System rocket, which the administration proposed phasing out.

NIST remains a vehicle for earmarks: Congressionally directed spending makes up 28% of NIST’s budget for research programs in the House proposal and 15% in the Senate proposal. After subtracting earmarks, the Senate bill proposes flat funding for NIST’s research programs, while the House proposal and the president’s request propose a 17% cut. Neither the Senate nor the House report comments on the president’s request, which states that NIST will reduce or eliminate lab programs related to atomic spectroscopy and biophysics, eliminate “lower priority workforce development efforts” in exploratory measurement science, and eliminate the greenhouse gas measurements program. The Senate bill proposes an increase for research facility construction, while the House and administration propose flat funding.