In June, the White House released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 that slashed funding for NASA’s science programs by nearly 50 percent. Then, in July, the Trump administration began telling the leaders of dozens of space science missions to prepare “closeout” plans for their spacecraft.
Things looked pretty grim for a while, but then Congress stepped in. Congress, of course, sets the federal government’s budget. In many ways, Congress abdicated authority to the Trump administration last year. But not so, it turns out, with federal spending.
Throughout the summer and fall, as the White House and Congress wrangled over various issues, lawmakers made it clear they intended to fund most of NASA’s science portfolio. Preliminary efforts to shut down active missions were put on hold.
On Monday, Congress made good on those promises, releasing a $24.4 billion budget plan for NASA as part of the conferencing process, when House and Senate lawmakers convene to hammer out a final budget. The result is a budget that calls for just a 1 percent cut in NASA’s science funding, to $7.25 billion, for fiscal year 2026.
Better than could be hoped for
“This is, frankly, better than I could have expected,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for The Planetary Society, which argued against the cuts. “There’s very little to not like in this.”
The new budget will not undo the significant cuts to NASA’s workforce through a voluntary buyout program in 2025, or other efforts by the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency to reduce headcounts across the federal government.
Credit: Grant Tremblay, X Summary of budget changes from what President Trump requested (PBR) through to the final numbers. Summary of budget changes from what President Trump requested (PBR) through to the final numbers. Credit: Grant Tremblay, X
Dreier also lamented the many wasted hours spent planning by scientists and engineers to comply with the Trump White House’s budget proposal.