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January 6, 2026<\/p>\n
3 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Congress Proposes Strong Science Funding for 2026<\/p>\n Lawmakers aim to support science research despite cuts proposed by the Trump administration<\/p>\n By Dan Vergano edited by Clara Moskowitz<\/span><\/p>\n The US Capitol on January 5, 2026.<\/p>\n SAUL LOEB\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Rejecting devastating cuts to science funding proposed by the Trump administration, a congressional panel released three bipartisan bills that would only slightly trim 2026 budgets at NASA, the National Science Foundation and other science agencies on Monday. Under these bills, some agencies, such as the Department of Energy and National Institute of Standards and Technology, would receive slight increases.<\/p>\n Lawmakers hope this three-bill \u201cminibus,\u201d which covers agencies ranging from the Department of Justice to the U.S. Forest Service, will pass as part of a larger spending package for the U.S. government in 2026. The speaker of the House, Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana, said on social media that the House of Representatives will vote on the bills this week, a prelude to a U.S. Senate vote. The votes need to pass ahead of a January 30 deadline to avert another U.S. government shutdown.<\/p>\n \u201cThis package rejects President Trump\u2019s push to let our competitors do laps around us by slashing federal funding for scientific research by upwards of 50% and killing thousands of good jobs in the process,\u201d said Senator Patty Murray of Washington State, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which oversees the budget, in a statement. The committee\u2019s chair, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, noted in a separate statement that science, which is \u201cnecessary to maintain U.S. competitiveness,\u201d was a priority in the wide-ranging bills. Notably, the minibus does not cover the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Under the minibus package, NASA would receive $24.4 billion this year (a slight cut from 2025), with science missions receiving $7.25 billion. That represents just a 1.1 percent dip to science mission funding, in contrast with the 47 percent cut proposed by the Trump administration. Space policy analyst Casey Dreier of the Planetary Society called the bills \u201cvery good news\u201d on Bluesky. The budget would preserve NASA missions to Venus, Uranus and the Habitable Worlds Observatory that are meant to search for life on planets orbiting nearby stars, as well as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is slated for launch next year. The space agency\u2019s long beleaguered $10-billion Mars Sample Return mission would die, however.<\/p>\n With the package, the DOE\u2019s $16.78-billion budget for nondefense programs would include $8.4 billion for its Office of Science, an almost 2 percent increase despite the administration\u2019s calls for cuts. That would include funding for energy efficiency, renewable energy and electric grid protection efforts\u2014as well as fundamental research in physics and chemistry. But the budget for the Advanced Research Projects Agency\u2013Energy, which funds high-risk energy research, would shrink to $350 million, a 24 percent cut. The Trump administration had wanted an even deeper 57 percent reduction.<\/p>\n \u201cNo question the appropriations are a rebuke,\u201d says Michael Lubell, a physicist at the City College of New York and a former director of public affairs at the American Physical Society. \u201cBut they are only half the story,\u201d given the Trump administration\u2019s moves to ignore congressional budgets in the past year. To meet its own priorities, the administration has shifted agencies\u2019 money around or refused to spend it, leading to lawsuits. And it has threatened funding at universities\u2014over its opposition to diversity, for example.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress might be expressing its disapproval of the violations of the last year by rejecting Trump\u2019s budget numbers, but until it sees fit to enforce its constitutional authority, not much will change,\u201d Lubell adds.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Note: This story is in development and may be updated.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 6, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Congress Proposes Strong Science Funding for 2026 Lawmakers aim to support science research despite cuts proposed by the Trump administration By Dan Vergano edited by Clara Moskowitz The US Capitol on January 5, 2026. SAUL LOEB\/AFP\/Getty Images Rejecting devastating cuts to science funding proposed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[4579,116,2614,516,4463],"class_list":{"0":"post-40587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-funding","10":"tag-proposes","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-strong"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n