The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget process is underway, raising concerns that Congress could codify many of the dramatic reductions in funding introduced during the first months of the second Trump administration. The Senate and House are currently at odds over the FY26 budget, with significant disagreements on fiscal priorities.
The House has passed a resolution outlining budgetary levels for FY2025-2034, urging the Senate to move forward with these plans. However, Senate Republicans are pushing for deeper, more targeted spending cuts, particularly in domestic discretionary programs, whereas the House approach emphasizes broader limits on overall federal spending without specifying programmatic reductions. There is division within the GOP, with far-right legislators pushing for steep cuts, while moderates are more cautious, especially regarding entitlement programs such as Medicaid. These differences have created a challenging environment for passing a unified budget. Additionally, the U.S. is facing a potential default as it approaches its debt ceiling, projected to be reached by August or September 2025. (See past FABBS article.)
Funding Requests for FY26
FABBS works together with over a dozen national coalitions to advocate for strong funding for our disciplines. So far, the science community has submitted the following funding requests for FY26:
- The Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research requests National Institutes of Health (NIH) receive at least $51.3 billion.
- The Coalition for National Science Funding requests National Science Foundation (NSF) receive at least $9.9 billion.
- The Friends of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) requests IES recieve at least $900 million.
These figures, along with additional details, are available on our federal science funding dashboard, which we will continue to update.
Science advocates are bracing for significant cuts to science budgets in the President’s Budget Request may eliminate funding for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate and the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU), which is raising alarms about the future of critical research and education programs.
