U.S. Science Leadership Survives Existential Threat From Trump Budget as Cantwell Rallies Colleagues to Reject Gutting NASA, NSF, & NIST

WASHINGTON, D.C.– America’s leading science agencies have survived an existential threat thanks to bipartisan rejection of massive budget cuts proposed by the Trump Administration, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and senior member of the Finance Committee, announced today.
Today, the Senate passed a bipartisan second FY 2026 minibus appropriations bill that stabilized funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Science Foundation (NSF), and boosted funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). All three agencies are overseen by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The bill now goes to the White House for President Trump’s signature.
“Our science and technology enterprise is the envy of the world and the growth engine of our innovation economy. The President’s budget would have slashed a quarter of NASA’s funding and half of the National Science Foundation’s funding, jeopardizing our economic competitiveness and national security. Instead, Congress held the line, protecting America’s ability to do big things, like establishing a permanent outpost on the Moon, developing space technology that monitors extreme weather and protects our citizens from natural disasters, and inventing the microelectronics of the future that power information systems and lifesaving medical devices. Our world-class researchers and technologists will have the resources they need to expand the boundaries of knowledge that have long enabled us to invent our future,”Sen. Cantwell said.
Agency
FY2024/25 Enacted
Trump Budget Request Cuts
FY2026 Legislation
Final Increase/Decrease
NASA
$24.9B
-23.8%
$24.4B
-1.6%
NSF
$9.1B
-57.1%
$8.75B
-3.85%
NIST
$1.46B
-43.2%
$1.85B
+21.0%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASAstunned the world and inspired generations on the day Americans first set foot on the moon. Since then, NASA has:
President Trump’s FY2026 budget would have cut over $6 billion from NASA’s budget. Under the minibus appropriations bill passed today, the agency will receive $24.44 billion, only slightly less than last year’s budget of $24.88 billion.
NASA’s budget includes funding for:
Sen. Cantwell’s Commerce Committee alerted Senators and their staffs to the danger facing NASA with a September 2025report,“The Destruction of NASA’s Mission”: Whistleblowers reveal OMB’s Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency.The report revealed that OMB Director Russell Vought had been directing NASA—since early summer 2025—to begin implementing the devastating cuts in President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request (PBR), without regard for the destructive impacts to NASA’s missions, safety, and workforce.
Earlier that month, at a Commerce Committee hearing, Sen. Cantwell forcefullyexplainedwhy the U.S. must stay ahead of China in the space race.“The strategic value of maintaining our position to live and work in space is critical,”said Sen. Cantwell.“It's critical to our future economic and national security. All you have to do is look back to the 1960s and look at the development of technologies that created an ecosystem within the United States of America that led to discoveries and innovations that we're still now counting on today.”
In December, Sen. Cantwell supported the nomination of Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator – only after securing assurances that he would defend the agency’s science mission and role in developing America’s next generation of science leaders. Earlier in the year, Sen. Cantwell hadpressed Isaacmanon his commitment to protect critical NASA programs from DOGE cuts and support the Artemis mission.
Sen. Cantwell has been a champion for our nation’s space industry and its aerospace workforce, and currently oversees NASA and the space industry as Ranking Member of the Commerce Committee. In March 2025, Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the bipartisanNASA Transition Authorization Actto set near-term priorities for NASA programs, advance American leadership, and prevent the United States from falling behind in the space race with China and our strategic competitors.
National Science Foundation
NSF supports fundamental science research and innovation in all 50 states. Some of the products that would not exist without NSF research include Medtronic pacemakers or insulin pumps, ChatGPT, Nvidia GPU chips that power ChatGPT; Alexa; MRIs for medical imaging; Teslas, cruise control; Da Vinci robotic surgical systems; quantum computers – even Fortnite, according to Dr. Dean Chang, Chief Innovation Officer and Associate Vice President for Innovation & Entrepreneurship & Economic Development at the University of Maryland, who joined Sen. Cantwell in speaking out against proposed NSF cuts.
The president wanted to only provide $3.9 billion for the NSF. The bill provides $8.75 billion, more than double Trump’s requested amount. It’s a 4.0% decrease from FY24/FY25 appropriation of $9.1 billion.
NSF’s budget includes funding for:
National Science Foundation cuts were the subject of a May 2025 press conferenceheldby Sen. Cantwell. She was joined by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and a panel of prestigious scientists including Dr. Chang.
“We are in an Information Age. We are in an age where there are several areas of U.S. competitiveness that depend on continued science innovation, aerospace being one of those, certainly AI being another, quantum being a third,”Sen. Cantwell said at the time.“And all of this is being put into jeopardy by this cut.”
NISTis the gold standard in measurement and standards that allow technology to work. Among the many products that rely on NIST’s work are the smart electric power grid, electronic health records, atomic clocks, advanced nanomaterials, and computer chips.
The president’s budget also proposed just $830 million in funding for NIST. This bill provides $1.847 billion, more than double the amount requested – a 21% increasefrom FY24/FY25 enacted levels.
NIST’s budget includes funding for:
Sen. Cantwellwas a main architect and key negotiatorof the 2022 CHIPS & Science Act. In her position as Chair of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, she was instrumental in securing the science R&D funding authorizations in the 11th hour of negotiations. The new law authorized a new mission at the NSF focusing on translational science in key areas – including artificial intelligence, quantum technology, advanced manufacturing, composites, energy, and biotech -- with an authorization of $20 billion over five years.
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