Issue 08 (April 21)

As COSSA has been reporting, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) is currently at risk of being eliminated. The Trump Administration’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2027 would zero out funding for SBE starting next fiscal year without providing notice or explanation to the research community. COSSA is working with friends across the scientific community to fight back.

We have created a Save SBE webpage with resources you can use in your own efforts to defend SBE and promote the work of the social and behavioral sciences. The latest resource is the SBE Messaging Guide. This document was prepared for you to use when communicating with Congress, other scientific communities, the general public, or with anyone else about the value of the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. You are welcome to use language directly from the guide in your own communications.

Be sure to bookmark the page as additional materials are being added regularly. 

On April 3, the Trump Administration released its budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2027. In it, the Administration states its intent to dismantle the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate in FY 2027. This proposal is alarming as the SBE Directorate is responsible for nearly two-thirds of funding for academic research in the social and behavioral sciences in the U.S. However, even more concerning are recent reports that NSF leadership plans to begin dismantling the Directorate this year. Such a move raises several red flags and likely violates current statute, not to mention sidesteps Congress’ oversight and funding authority.

Now is the time to come together as a community and urge Congress to intervene and protect the SBE Directorate from the Administration’s devastating plan. Write to your House Representative and Senators TODAY to share your concerns and urge them to intervene.

On April 13, the House Appropriations Committee released the markup schedule for the fiscal year (FY) 2027 appropriations bills. The Commerce, Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies Bill (CJS), which provides annual appropriations for the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the U.S. Census Bureau, is scheduled to be reviewed by the CJS Subcommittee on April 30 with the full Appropriations Committee markup scheduled for May 13. The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Bill (LHHS), which funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Education, Department of Labor, is scheduled to be reviewed by the LHHS Subcommittee on June 5 and full committee on June 9. The Senate has yet to release their schedule.

As the House and Senate draft their appropriations bills, several budget hearings have been scheduled on Capitol Hill, including several with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (see related article).

Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage of the FY 2027 appropriations process. 

On April 16, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request to the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee (LHHS). The hearing highlighted several priority areas for the Administration, including chronic disease, vaccine efficacy, agriculture and food safety, rural health, and cyber and national security.

During his opening statement, Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) offered his support to the Administration and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative; however, he stated that it would be unlikely for the Administration and Congress to “agree on areas for reduction.” He continued that he is a “strong supporter of investments” for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and argued that “extreme swings in funding supporting biomedical research are counterproductive.” Later in the hearing, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) also expressed her support for sustained and robust funding for the agency, stating, “Breakthroughs do not happen by accident, they grow from long term commitments to discovery, stable funding streams, and a national belief that medical innovation is both possible and necessary.” The Administration proposed a 12 percent decrease to NIH in the FY 2027 budget request; the request to slash the NIH budget in FY 2026 was ultimately rejected by Congress (see previous coverage).

The hearing continued with several points of contention, including the Administration’s proposal to reduce the overall HHS budget by 12.5 percent and reorganize several of the department’s agencies and programs. In her opening statement, Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) criticized the request, arguing that it would harm the public health of the country. She further raised concerns about Secretary Kennedy’s personal opinions on subjects like vaccine safety and food safety influencing policy without the support of evidence-based research. In his opening statement, Secretary Kennedy argued that the Administration’s budget proposal was simply “challenging the status quo” and the system that upheld it.

Secretary Kennedy continued to field questions about the status of the department, including concerns from Ranking Member DeLauro about whether appropriated funds are being released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the appropriate agencies. Further, she requested that Secretary Kennedy share with the Committee the FY 2026 spend plans for the agencies within the department, claiming that they were being withheld. To this end, Secretary Kennedy agreed to work with staff to release the plans to Congress.

Under questioning from Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Secretary Kennedy told the Committee that HHS had replaced their nearly 20,000 terminated staff with “better” people to solve chronic disease, bringing the total employees back to the amount before the mass layoffs last year. However, when pressed by Rep. Hoyer on whether the new employees were political or career scientists, Secretary Kennedy claimed that most of the employees were recalled from the layoffs.

A recording of the hearing and witness statements can be found here. Stay tuned for COSSA’s continued coverage of the FY 2027 appropriations process.

On April 15, the House Science, Space, and Technology (SST) Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing on the State of Scientific Publishing. During the hearing, several members raised concerns over scientific integrity and reproducibility in research, publishing corporations and paper mills, open access to federally funded research, and the potential risks that artificial intelligence (AI) and competition with China pose on the scientific ecosystem. Witnesses included Carl Maxwell, Senior VP for Public policy at the Association of American Publishers; Kate Travis, Managing Editor at Retraction Watch; and Jason Owen-Smith, Executive Director at the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science at the University of Michigan.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Rich McCormick (R-GA) highlighted the importance of enforcing credibility requirements in research to avoid AI hallucinations, falsified research findings, and scientific misconduct. On the other side of the aisle, Ranking Member Emilia Sykes (D-OH) criticized President Trump’s Executive Order to Restore the Gold Standard of Science (see previous COSSA coverage) and the current administration’s continued cuts to federally funded research and academic institutions. The Ranking Member also warned that the proposal to restrict the use of federal dollars for publishing and subscription fees suggested in the fiscal year (FY) 2027 Presidential Budget Request would “pull the rug out from under the research field”. The Committee explored the implications of open access on research and national security (see previous COSSA coverage) with concerns of predatory publishing corporations potentially putting scientific integrity at risk and foreign competition.

A recording of the hearing and witness statements can be found here.

On April 29, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host a webinar on the different funding opportunities offered across the foundation’s directorates related to research security practices. The following NSF programs will participate: Research on Research Security; Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Economic Development; Law & Science; Security and Preparedness; Security, Privacy, and Trust in Cyberspace; Science of Science: Discovery, Communication and Impact; and Cybersecurity Innovation for Cyberinfrastructure. Register here.  

On April 23-24, the National Academy of Sciences will be hosting a workshop on “Enhancing Scientific Integrity: Progress and Opportunities in the Social and Behavioral Sciences“.

This virtual workshop will bring together researchers, journal editors, publishers, funders, and scientific association leaders to identify practical, forward-looking strategies for strengthening data integrity and transparency in the social and behavioral sciences. Participants will explore innovative tools and frameworks to detect and prevent errors, promote accountability, and reinforce public trust in research. Discussions will also consider how journals, institutions, and professional societies can adopt fair, sustainable practices that support scientific rigor while ensuring accessibility for researchers across many contexts and settings.

Register for the workshop here.