Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C .—Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) , U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) , Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and 22 colleagues in demanding answers from President Trump and Acting Head of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Brian Stone on why the president dismissed all members of the NSF’s National Science Board (NSB), the advisory group that governs the agency. President Trump’s mass firing of NSB members follows a pattern of his administration terminating medical and scientific advisors, including the NSF’s outside advisory committees and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) vaccine advisory committee. The Senators wrote: “This is yet another attack in this administration’s relentless war on science, forcing an agency into crisis. NSF now lacks a board, a permanent director, and a deputy director. The agency has also lost more than 30% of its staff since January 2025 due to the administration’s reckless mass terminations. In addition, the NSF terminated hundreds of active research awards and has been issuing new awards at the slowest pace in at least 35 years. The timing of the NSB terminations also raises significant suspicion of the motivation for the firings. The board was next scheduled to meet on May 5, 2026, and reporting indicates that a report on the United States ceding scientific ground to China was set to be released as part of the meeting—a report Congress urgently needs as experts and recent forecasts indicate that our country’s scientific and innovation leadership is at risk due to this administration’s actions undermining research.” “We are also greatly concerned by political interference by the White House over this independent agency. Terminated NSB members have stated that OMB instructed NSF leadership not to share details of the agency’s budget plans with the full board, despite the NSB’s statutorily mandated role in approving NSF’s spending,” the Senators continued . “With the NSB now entirely vacated, there is no independent check on OMB’s influence, if not control, over NSF grant-making, strategic direction, and spending priorities. As one former board member warned, NSF could ‘essentially become a pass-through for implementing things in the domain of sciences and technology that the administration just wants to do.’” The Senators requested the following information by May 29, 2026 : The legal and constitutional basis for the President’s termination of all NSB members on April 24, 2026. How NSF will perform the NSB’s statutory functions—including approval of major awards and expenditures, establishment of NSF policies, and provision of advice to the President and Congress—during any period in which there is no functioning board. Whether President Trump intends to appoint new NSB members and, if so, by what timeline. Communications between OMB, the White House, or any other Executive Office of the President and NSF leadership directing NSF not to share budget, grant-making, or strategic planning information with NSB members. What steps NSF has taken, or plans to take, to ensure that the mandated report on the state of science and engineering in the United States—including the forthcoming report on United States’ scientific competitiveness relative to China—is completed and transmitted to Congress in accordance with the agency’s statutory obligations. In addition to Senators Welch, Markey, Cantwell, and Schumer, the letter is signed by Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Read and download the Senator’s full letter to President Trump and Acting Head of NSF Stone. ###