Congress moves to reject bulk of White House's proposed NASA cuts

A budget-writing panel in the House of Representatives passed a $24.8 billion NASA budget bill Tuesday, joining a similar subcommittee in the Senate in maintaining the space agency's funding after the White House proposed a nearly 25 percent cut. The budget bills making their way through the House and Senate don't specify funding levels for individual programs, but the topline numbers—$24.8 billion in the House version and $24.9 billion the Senate bill—represent welcome news for scientists, industry, and space enthusiasts bracing for severe cuts requested by the Trump administration. The spending plan passed Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies covers NASA and numerous other federal agencies. The $24.8 billion budget the House seeks for NASA is $6 billion more than the Trump administration's budget proposal, and keeps NASA's funding next year the same as this year. The corresponding subcommittee in the Senate passed its version of NASA's fiscal year 2026 budget July 9. The Senate bill maintains funding for NASA's science division at $7.3 billion, the same as fiscal year 2025, while the House bill reduces it to $6 billion, still significantly more than the $3.9 billion for science in the White House budget proposal. Flat is the new up In reality, a flat budget is effectively a cut in funding once you account for inflation. But spaceflight and space science advocates celebrated the bills written to restore NASA's budget. "Though the House and Senate have much still to debate on full-year appropriations, this much is clear: Congress is rejecting the full extent of the unprecedented, unstrategic, and wasteful cuts to NASA and NASA science proposed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget," the Planetary Society said in a statement. However, there remains a sense of urgency among NASA's backers for Congress to pass a full appropriations bill. NASA has already directed teams to submit "closeout plans" for dozens of missions teed up for cancellation in Trump's budget. Many scientists view this as an effort by the Trump administration to cancel as many NASA science missions as possible before Congress passes a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Ars reported earlier this month.