Issue 12 (June 10)

Following a brief recess for Memorial Day, Congress has returned ready to tackle both budget reconciliation and fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations. As previously reported by COSSA, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1) passed through the House in a 215-214 vote in late May, sending the tax policy package to the Senate. Many members of the Senate have since indicated that the bill would likely see many changes before passing their chamber, and, more recently, House Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), have come out against the bill, expressing regret for having voted for it. Despite Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) self-imposed deadline of July 4, it is unclear whether the two chambers will be able to agree on a final reconciliation package anytime soon.

In other news, Congress is moving forward with the FY 2026 appropriations process. As previously reported, both chambers have been holding budget hearings with several departments, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (see previous COSSA coverage). On May 30, the Trump Administration began releasing the agencies’ budget requests and the following week, the House began releasing their budget bills, including the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill, the Homeland Security bill, and the Defense bill. The House bills largely support the President’s request and, through various bills, has proposed codifying several of the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders (EO), including the EO restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) (see previous COSSA coverage). The science-related funding bills are scheduled for consideration in the House starting early July.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of Congressional activities.

With the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process ramping up, Congress has been holding hearings on budget and policy priorities for various departments and agencies, including the Department of Education. On June 3, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations subcommittee invited Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to defend the department’s FY 2026 budget request. The following day, the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Education,” with Secretary McMahon again testifying before the committee.

The Senate LHHS budget hearing focused on the detailed Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget request recently released by the Department, which proposed significant cuts to the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) and other dedicated grant programs (see related article). Several Republican committee members, including Chair Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) praised Secretary McMahon and the proposed cuts for “reducing regulatory burden” and returning education back to states and parents, though they expressed concern over cuts to some programs. Several committee Democrats, including Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) expressed concern that the Department’s restructuring of grant programs, introduction of a block grant to states, and slashing of staff essentially amounted to an unauthorized closure of the department. In her opening statement, Senator Baldwin emphasized the destructive impacts of the half-a-billion-dollar cuts to education research and statistics within the department. A recording of the Senate hearing can be found here.

The House Education and Workforce Committee focused on many of the same issues as the Senate budget hearing, though there was more direct mention of the harm the IES faces in the proposed budget. In his opening statement, Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) called attention to how the closure of the IES would negatively affect efforts to improve students’ academic outcomes through evidence-based measures and impede congressional efforts to allocate funds to programs with proven success. Further, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) questioned Secretary McMahon about the almost 90% cut to IES staff and emphasized that the Institute could not properly operate with so little capacity, thus halting research and data collection efforts. A recording of the House hearing can be found here.

During the House hearing, Secretary McMahon provided little detail about how IES might continue to perform its fundamental duties; in response to a question from Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) about the Department’s cancelation of the Evaluation of Career and Technical Education, Secretary McMahon claimed that the department would continue to collect necessary data, though some changes were being made in the educational data they planned on collecting. She did not expand on what these changes would be.

 Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage on the FY 2026 appropriations process.

This article was contributed by COSSA Intern Eva Lettiere.

The Democratic staff of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee have released a survey to collect information on the impacts that grant cancellations by the Trump Administration are having on the scientific community. Researchers who have had their research grants terminated or otherwise affected since January 20 are encouraged to respond to the survey.

Trump Administration Actions (all actions available here):

• Enhancing National Security by Addressing Risks at Harvard University (6/4/25)
• Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats (6/4/25)
• Restoring Gold Standard Science (5/23/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Increasing Efficiency at the Office of the Federal Register (5/9/25)
• Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research (5/5/25)
• Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research (5/5/25)
• Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service (4/24/25)
• White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (4/23/25)
• Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education (4/23/25)
• PROPOSED RULE: Improving Performance, Accountability, and the Civil Service (4/23/25)
• Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities (4/23/25)
• Extension of Hiring Freeze (4/17/25) 
• Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History (3/27/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities (3/20/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy (3/14/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (3/14/25)
• Implementing the President’s DOGE Cost Efficiency Initiative (2/26/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s DOGE Deregulatory Initiative (2/19/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Radical Transparency about Wasteful Spending (2/18/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission (2/13/25)
• Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative (2/11/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Advancing United States Interests When Funding Nongovernmental Organizations (2/6/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling (1/29/25)
• President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (1/23/25)
• Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence (1/23/25)
• Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (1/21/24) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (1/20/25)
• Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Trust to the Federal Government (1/20/25)
• Establishing and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (1/20/25)
• Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions within the Federal Workforce (1/20/25) – Reinstates Trump Administration’s 2020 EO creating a new Schedule F in the Federal Excepted Service 
• Withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO (1/20/25)
• Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements (1/20/25) – Withdraws the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, among other actions.
• Hiring Freeze (1/20/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Return to In-Person Work (1/20/25) (MORE INFORMATION)
• Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship (1/20/25)
• Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions (1/20/25) – Rescinds dozens of Biden Administration Executive Orders

Find COSSA’s full list of Trump’s Executive Actions and more information here or on the Social Science Space Tracker.

President’s Budget for Next Year would Decimate Federal Science Funding

On May 30, the Trump Administration began releasing additional details of its budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2026, which begins on October 1. [Note: The FY 2026 budget request is different from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that is working its way through Congress (see COSSA’s coverage for clarification)]. While the entire budget is not yet available for certain federal agencies, the details that are available include massive cuts to agency budgets and major structural reorganizations. As always, COSSA is producing an in-depth analysis of the President’s FY 2026 budget request. Until then, a few details are provided below.  

So far, the President’s budget request includes:

• A 56% cut to the National Science Foundation (NSF), including a dismantling of NSF’s STEM education training and research programs.
• A more than 40% cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as a consolidation of NIH’s 27 institutes and centers into 8, without consultation with Congress or the research community.
• A 67% cut to the Institute of Education Sciences within the Department of Education.
• A zeroing out of the Department of Education’s International Education and Foreign Language Studies programs, known as Title VI and Fulbright-Hays.
• An overhaul of the Department of Health and Human Services, including the consolidation of several agencies and devastating funding cuts across agencies.

As you may know, the President typically sends the Administration’s budget request to Congress in February, although it is not unusual for those deadlines to slip, especially during transition years. However, even though major sections of the President’s budget have yet to be sent to Congress, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have begun marking up their FY 2026 appropriations bills. Consideration of the science-focused funding bills is scheduled in the House for early July. The Senate is expected to start on its bills in the coming weeks.

It is important to note that the President’s budget request is largely a policy document outlining the priorities and goals of the Administration. The authority over the annual appropriation of federal funds lies with Congress. Still, the funding levels and policy goals included in the President’s FY 2026 budget, if enacted, would have devastating consequences for the U.S. research enterprise.

Congress must hear from its constituents TODAY – contact your elected officials and tell them to reject the President’s FY 2026 budget and protect funding for federal science and education agencies.

COSSA Comments on Proposed Rule to Reclassify Federal Employees

In April, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a proposed rule for public comment on Improving Performance, Accountability, and Responsiveness in the Civil Service. OPM is proposing to create a new federal employee classification, “Schedule Policy/Career,” that would make it easier to terminate certain career civil servants if they are found to “engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or undermine the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives (emphasis added).” The draft policy builds on the so-called “Schedule F” directive issued by President Trump at the end of his first term and would apply to non-political federal employees whose positions are “policy-influencing.”

COSSA submitted comment on the proposal outlining the dangers of creating a new Schedule Policy/Career classification, including losing the ability to attract and retain scientific talent needed in the federal workforce, the loss of institutional knowledge and diversity of thought, politicization of the federal scientific enterprise, and risks of further damaging the public’s trust is federal science and data. All submitted comments are available to the public here.

On May 19, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) hosted a conversation with Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). A recording is available here. A discussion with NAS President Marcia McNutt followed Kratsios’ remarks.

Kratsios expressed strong opinions about the current state of the U.S. scientific enterprise, stating, “To empower America’s researchers to achieve groundbreaking discoveries and to reinvigorate our national science enterprise, we must scrutinize our existing approach and recommit ourselves to best practices.” He contended that despite “soaring” biomedical research budgets in recent years, “scientific progress has stalled,” and that “more money has not meant more scientific discovery.”

He also had strong words for DEI activities, stating, “DEI initiatives… degrade our scientific enterprise” and that “DEI represents an existential threat to the real diversity of thought that forms the foundation of the scientific community.” He justified the termination of thousands of federal grants by saying, “Spending more money on the wrong things is far worse than spending less money on the right things.” He expressed a similar sentiment when discussing increases in administrative burden.

Kratsios’ solution to the challenges confronting the scientific enterprise is to recommit to Gold Standard Science (see previous coverage), which is science that is reproducible, transparent, interdisciplinary, and unbiased.

A recording of the event is available on the National Academies website and a transcript of Kratsios’ speech is available on the White House website. 

On May 30, the Department of Education welcomed Dr. Amber Northern as Senior Advisor, announcing that she will be tasked with reforming the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). In the department’s announcement, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was quoted:

“As we return education to the states, it’s essential that educators have access to accurate data to inform their work and develop best practices. Dr. Northern’s deep expertise in education statistics and years of experience in the classroom will be an asset as we re-envision the work of IES.” 

Northern serves as Senior Vice President for Research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and holds a Ph.D. in education policy and evaluation from the University of Virginia.

On June 3, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) hosted the State of the Science Address, an annual discussion on the status of science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM) in the U.S. (see previous COSSA coverage). During her opening remarks, President of the National Academy of Sciences, Marcia McNutt, discussed the decline of the STEM workforce and interest in research and development (R&D) in the U.S., comparing the U.S. to global competitors, such as China. She briefly discussed the significant budget cuts and grant cancellations proposed by the Trump Administration, and the detrimental impacts they would have on the U.S. scientific research enterprise. To this end, McNutt stated, “America can’t be great without great science.”

McNutt framed her presentation using Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a 2007 NASEM report that analyzed the U.S. scientific research enterprise and hypothesized what the U.S. would look like without sufficient investment in science. She highlighted the various reasons outlined in the report for a decline in U.S. global scientific leadership in a “Pessimistic Case,” including increased opportunities abroad, a lack of business incentives, and excessive regulations, and warned that the U.S. is on the verge of realizing this hypothesis. Further, McNutt spoke to the Trump Administration’s efforts to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, raising concerns that they will “undermine attempts to reduce regulatory burden” for scientific researchers.

Finally, McNutt offered potential solutions to address the decline in science, calling for the U.S. to: build on a culture of innovation; create a national research strategy; improve science education; foster international collaboration; and cut red tape. A recording of the address can be found here as well as meeting materials, including the State of the Science Program.