Congressional appropriators in both the House and Senate recently advanced their fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) bills. While the Senate bill preserves funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) at $9 billion, the House bill proposes a $7 billion budget. Although a decrease from FY25 funding levels (a 23 percent cut), the House number is still significantly higher than that proposed by President Trump, who sought to cut the NSF budget by 57 percent.
Senate Committee Deliberations
By proposing what is essentially flat funding for NSF, the Senate bill takes a strong stance against Trump’s plans for the agency. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chair of the CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, emphasized that NSF funding is essential to protecting U.S. leadership in science and innovation. Committee leaders also ensured continued support for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other scientific priorities.
However, a wrinkle appeared when Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced an amendment to restore over 1,500 NSF grants that have been terminated by the administration. Many of the canceled awards supported research on increasing women’s participation in STEM or exploring ethical questions in genomics. Baldwin argued that these actions—often framed as targeting so-called “DEI research”—undermine scientific merit, congressional intent, and vital STEM education initiatives. Moran acknowledged the issue, but opposed the amendment as too broad. The amendment failed by a single vote (14–15), though Moran and Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) both committed to collaborating on revised language for future consideration on the Senate floor.
The report accompanying the Senate bill includes important language relevant to NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Sciences Directorate. This language, which FABBS worked to support, reinforces congressional support for SBE research within NSF. The full text of the report language is included below.
A dispute over the FBI’s new headquarters had temporarily stalled the Senate’s progress on its CJS bill. For years, Congress has planned to relocate the FBI to Greenbelt, Maryland and had set aside roughly $1.4 billion for the move after a competitive, expert-led site selection process. However, the Trump Administration recently announced plans to shift the FBI into the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C., a decision made without a new security assessment or congressional approval, according to Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). He introduced an amendment preventing the use of funds for any site other than Greenbelt. He argued the administration’s move constituted “a recission by another name” and undermined Congress’s power of the purse. The amendment passed 15–14, with all Democrats and one Republican voting in favor. In response to this debate, several senators—including Collins and Moran—rescinded their support for the full bill, leading the committee to temporarily halt its passage and instead recess. After a week-long delay, the bill was reintroduced and finally — thanks to Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) changing her vote — advanced out of committee to the full Senate, where negotiations over the FBI’s location are expected to continue.
House Proposes Sharp Reductions
In contrast, the House Appropriations CJS Subcommittee advanced their version of the bill, which allocates just $7 billion for NSF—a $2 billion reduction from FY25 levels. Representative Grace Meng (D-NY), Ranking Member of the subcommittee, criticized the bill for “disinvesting in the scientific research that drives American innovation” and eliminating STEM education programs. Other House members echoed her concerns that the bill would erode U.S. competitiveness as well as slow research progress. The subcommittee advanced the bill on a 9–6 party-line vote. A full Appropriations Committee markup was originally scheduled for July 24 but was later postponed.
What’s Next?
When, and if, each chamber passes their versions of the NSF budget, lawmakers in the two chambers will need to work out the differences through negotiations. They must agree on a final bill before the new fiscal year begins on October 1, or they may need to pass a temporary funding measure (e.g., a continuing resolution) to avoid a government shutdown.
See Senate Report Language Here
“Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences [SBE].—The Committee supports the SBE Directorate and recognizes the fundamental importance of the research it supports in advancing scientific understanding of public health, defense and security, education and learning, and the interface between humans and technology. The Committee provides not less than the fiscal year 2024 enacted level for the SBE Directorate. The SBE Directorate funds more than half of our Nation’s university-based behavioral science research but remains the smallest of NSF directorates. The Committee believes that behavioral science provides evidence-based understanding of human behavior and recognizes the SBE Directorate’s unique role in funding this research and encourages NSF to continue its support of these programs. NSF is encouraged to support broad-based research in the SBE Directorate to develop and publish recommendations, including from researchers in the social sciences and ethics and technical subject matter experts, on concrete and practical guidelines for how organizations will and should deploy AI systems and identify limitations and concerns about specific deployment of AI systems in settings.”
