Latest from the White House (June 10)

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.