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COSSA’s Analysis of the President’s FY 2027 Budget Request for Social and Behavioral Science
On April 3, the Trump Administration released its budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2027. The document released by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) highlights actions the Administration has taken during its first year in office to cut spending across the federal government, stating that, āThe full-year 2026 appropriations bills enacted the first real cut to spending in 12 yearsā¦[and] put us on a path to eliminate ineffective Federal agencies that do not serve a useful purposeā¦ā ļ»æThe FY 2027 budget seeks additional cuts, including a 10 percent reduction to non-defense discretionary spending, while proposing a staggering $1.5…
COSSA’s Save SBE Toolkit
As COSSA has been reporting, the National Science Foundationās (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) is currently at risk of being eliminated. The Trump Administrationās 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…
A Note from COSSA
Friends ā As Iām sure you have heard by now, the Trump Administration released its budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2027 last week, which seeks to boost military spending by more than 44 percent by slashing funding for domestic programs. Among the domestic accounts affected are federal science agencies for which, once again, the Administration has put forward budget proposals that would all but hand American science leadership to our global competitors. See the related article below for preliminary details about the budget request. There will always be budget proposals by unsupportive Administrations seeking to cut funding for things they donāt…
Trump Proposes Steep Cuts to Federal Funding in FY 2027 Budget Request
On April 3, the Trump Administration transmitted its fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request to Congress. Included in the budget request are significant cuts that would decimate the U.S. scientific enterprise, including a repeated proposal to slash the National Science Foundationās (NSF) budget by more than half (see NSFās budget proposal here). The Administration has also proposed eliminating funding for NSFās Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). Notably in previous appropriations bills, Congress has directed the agency to fully-fund the SBE directorate. The Administrationās proposal also repeats several provisions and reorganization proposals from the previous yearās request, including a proposal to…
Congress Begins FY 2027 Budget Hearings
While Congress continues to grapple with a lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and President Trumpās push to pass theĀ SAVE ActĀ (H.R. 22), Congressional appropriators have turned their attention to drafting fiscal year (FY) 2027 appropriations legislation. AsĀ previously reported, the House Appropriations Committee set deadlines for submitting funding requests for Members earlier this month. Following in the Houseās footsteps, the Senate Appropriations Committee released their guidance last week. Deadlines for each subcommitteeās requests can be foundĀ here. Congress has also been holding hearings on budget and policy priorities for various departments and agencies, including the National Institutes of…
Analysis of the Final FY 2026 LHHS Appropriations Bills for Federal Science Agencies
Following a brief partial government shutdown, the House of Representatives passed the latest fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding package containing the final budgets for dozens of federal agencies and departments. The package, which comes on the heels of enactment of an earlier omnibus in January (seeĀ COSSAās coverage), includes the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) appropriations bill, funding the National Institutes of Health, Department of Education, and other agencies, and four other appropriations bills: the Department of Defense appropriations bill, Financial Services appropriations bill, National Security and Department of State appropriations bill, and the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development…
Congress Looks Forward to FY 2027 and Eyes Potential Second Reconciliation Package
As previously reported, Congress has neared completion of its appropriations process of fiscal year (FY) 2026, aside from the unfinished Homeland Security appropriations bill which remains under a temporary continuing resolution (CR), following the final passage of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) and Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bills. The final bills for FY 2026 largely rejected the Presidentās proposal for cuts to several key scientific agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Education, and more. On January 7, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) formally invited President…
President Trump Executive Actions
Trump Administration Actions (all actions available here): Find COSSA’s full list of Trump’s Executive Actions and more information here or on the Social Science Space Tracker.
Congress Turns to Final Appropriations Bills Following End of Government Shutdown
As previously reported by COSSA, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) that extends fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding through to January 30, 2026, ending the weeks-long government shutdown and giving Appropriators additional time to finish their work on FY 2026 funding. Currently, only three appropriations bills have been enacted into lawāeach having been attached to the CRāincluding the Agriculture bill, Legislative Branch bill, and Veteran Affairs bill. Despite delays, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has reiterated that the Senate has plans to consider the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS), Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS), and Transportation,…
Senate Democrats Break Rank to Pass New Spending Package
Late Monday night, seven Senate Democrats and one Independent joined Senate Republicans to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that would extend fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding through January 30, 2026. As a reminder, FY 2025 was enacted under a year-long CR, funding the federal government with FY 2024 levels. Senate Republicans managed to wrangle the necessary 60 votes with support from Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Angus King (I-ME). Several concessions were reportedly made to secure the agreement, including a…
Nominations Open for NASEM Planning Committee on New Scientific Integrity Workshop
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is seeking nominations for a planning committee that would be tasked with organizing a new workshop, Enhancing Scientific Integrity: Progress and Opportunities in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. The workshop seeks to address common questions and concerns, including: NASEM is looking for experts in a broad range of areas, including journal editors and publishers; behavioral and social science researchers; professional association leaders; legal/criminology expertise; AI expertise; and ethics. Nominations are due November 7 and can be submitted here.
No End in Sight for Government Shutdown as Congress Clashes Over Expiring ACA Subsidies
On October 1, federal funding lapsed in the absence of a budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026, shutting down the federal government for the first time since the historic thirty-five-day shutdown under President Trumpās first term. As previously reported by COSSA, Senate Democrats clashed with the Republican majority over a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that did not address Democratsā concerns over extending the expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, reversing some of the Medicaid cuts enacted in the ābig, beautiful bill,ā and including language to prohibit funding cuts and pocket recissions. While both parties are generally supportive of extending the ACA subsidies, so far Democrats…
Latest from the White House (October 14)
9 Universities Asked to Sign White House Compact in Exchange for Funding Earlier this month, nine of the nationās leading research universities received letters from the White House urging that they agree to Trump Administration priorities in exchange for federal funding. The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education lays out several conditions, such as freezing tuition rates for five years, capping international student enrollment, agreeing to the Administrationās definitions of gender, and ātransforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spart violence against conservative ideas.ā In return, institutions that sign the compact will be guaranteed: ā(i) access to…
Read COSSAās Analysis of the FY 2026 House LHHS Appropriations Bill for Federal Science Agencies
On September 9, the House Appropriations Committee advanced its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations bill, which provides annual appropriations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Education, Department of Labor, and other agencies. The Senate advanced its bill in July (see COSSAās analysis). The House bill is a mixed bag for the science agencies important to the COSSA community. Similar to the Senate bill, the Committee rejects the Presidentās proposals to reduce the NIH budget by 40 percent, cut CDC by…
Congress Returns from August Recess; House to Consider LHHS Bill
Congress has returned from their August recess prepared to tackle appropriations as the end of the fiscal year (FY) rapidly approaches. As previously reported by COSSA, both the House and the Senate have released their Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations bills but only the Senate has released their Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) bill before leaving for the break (see COSSAās analyses here). While itās unlikely theyāll manage to finalize any of their bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, the House LHHS Appropriations subcommittee plans to mark up their version of the LHHS bill later…
Latest from the White House (September 2)
Executive Order Seeks to Mandate Political Review of Grant Awards On August 7, the White House issued an Executive Order (EO) on Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking. This is a sweeping order that seeks to place several new requirements on federal grantmaking agencies, including science agencies. The EO states, āEvery tax dollar the Government spends should improve American lives or advance American interests. This often does not happen.ā It continues, āā¦the best proposals do not always receive funding, and there is too much unfocused research of marginal social utility.ā [emphasis added] In response, the EO calls for each federal grantmaking agency to create…
Senate Releases Spending Bills, Republican Senators Push Back Against NIH Funding Delays
Before departing for August Recess, the Senate advanced several bills through the Appropriations Committee, including the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bill, and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) bill (previous COSSA coverage). Both the Senate CJS and LHHS bills included relatively flat funding levels, rejecting the draconian cuts proposed by the Trump Administration earlier this year (see COSSAās analysis). Notably, on July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a mark-up for the LHHS bill in which several amendments were offered, including Senator Dick Durbinās (D-IL) call for the Trump Administration to restore all grants that had been terminated. The…
House and Senate Advance CJS Bills; Congress Claws Back FY 2025 Funding
Over the last few weeks, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees released and began consideration of their fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills, including the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bills, which funds the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and the U.S. Census Bureau. On July 10, the Senate made their first attempt to advance the CJS bill through the Appropriations Committee, only to call for an extended recess following arguments over the relocation of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) headquarters and other provisions. The following week, on July 17,…
Latest from the White House (July 22)
President Trump Establishes New āSchedule Gā Federal Worker Classification On July 17, President Trump issued an executive order (EO), Creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service, which seeks to create a new employee classification within the federal workforce. This effort comes on the heels of the Trump Administrationās addition of a new āSchedule Policy/Careerā classification, making it easier to terminate certain career (or non-political) federal employees whose positions are āpolicy-influencingā (see previous coverage). According to a White House fact sheet: āCreating Schedule G fills [a] gap and facilitates appointments of non-career federal employees who will serve temporarily and implement the policy…
COSSA Releases Complete Analysis of the President’s FY 2026 Budget Request for Social and Behavioral Science
On May 3, the Trump Administration released preliminary, high-level details of its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request, referred to as a āskinny budget.ā On May 30, additional details emerged. COSSA released a preliminary analysis for some government agencies on June 18, 2025. This document replaces the June 18 report and provides additional analysis. When considering an Administrationās budget proposal, it is important to remember that it remains a largely symbolic policy document outlining the Administrationās priorities for the year ahead. While it is possible that some of the Presidentās requests will be enacted, Congress has the final say over the appropriation…