Last week, the House passed a bipartisan minibus, a legislative package combining three of the 12 annual federal appropriations bills, including the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Act, which covers funding for federal science agencies. The Senate is actively discussing the bill at press time.
Most important for FABBS members, the National Science Foundation received $8.75 billion, a small decrease (3.5 percent) from 2025 funding levels but a significant increase over the $7 billion the House initially proposed last summer. The decrease stems from cuts to the agency’s education programs rather than its research programs.
[See FABBS Federal Funding Dashboard]
Additionally, the minibus includes an accompanying joint explanatory statement for the CJS bill which communicates congressional intent to the agencies covered. The statement indicates the language in the House and Senate versions of the CJS bill – developed last summer – holds in the minibus unless explicitly negated. (See previous FABBS coverage here to learn more about the Senate report language, in particular.)
The CJS statement also includes key language protecting funding for the NSF directorates as they currently stand. Congress directs NSF to:
“…equitably distribute funding to support all basic research directorates within [Research and Related Activities], as well as the Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate. No directorate shall receive more than a 5 percent reduction relative to the fiscal year 2024 enacted level.” (p. 61)
This is good news for FABBS members, who had concerns that the Directorates for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) and STEM Education (EDU) might see substantial cuts. Late last fall, FABBS led community letters urging appropriators to secure robust funding for these directorates (see SBE letter and EDU letter), and this language is exactly what we needed to see.
The statement also directs NSF to continue to apply indirect cost rates (also known as facilities and administration, or F&A, costs) as already negotiated, rather than the administration-proposed 15 percent cap. Appropriators do recognize there is room for improvement and that new models, particularly the FAIR model proposed by the Joint Associations Group on Indirect Costs (see previous FABBS article), should be considered in the future.
Still Ahead
The continuing resolution (CR) that re-opened the government in November also included a three-bill minibus covering appropriations for several departments, such as Agriculture and Veterans Affairs. Once the minibus containing the CJS bill passes the Senate, Congress will have six appropriations bills left to pass before the January 30 deadline set by the CR – if any fail to move forward, Congress would need to pass an additional CR or risk a partial government shutdown. The outstanding bills include the two largest spending measures: Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS). FABBS is closely following movement on the LHHS bill, which funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), agencies that support research conducted by FABBS scientists.
Complicating matters further, the Senate will be in recess next week and the House the week after, severely limiting time for negotiations. Nevertheless, top appropriators, including Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), are committed to avoiding both CRs and another shutdown.
Full Report Language: Indirect Costs
“The agreement acknowledges that there is room for improvement in the system used to identify and recover indirect cost rates under the Uniform Guidance, particularly with respect to the need for greater transparency into these costs. Various models have been suggested to achieve these improvements, including the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) model advanced by the Joint Associations Group on Indirect Costs (JAG), which the Committees believe merit further consideration.” (p. 3)
