Appropriations
Federal Funding Set to Expire at Midnight with No Solution in Sight
As previously reported by COSSA, federal funding for fiscal year (FY) 2025 is set to expire tonight at midnight. It has been a tumultuous few weeks, with House Republicans passing a continuing resolution (CR) which, if enacted, would extend funding to November 21. The bill later failed in the Senate by 44-48 vote with Democrats and Republican Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voting against it. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to vote for the House-passed CR. Late last week, House and Senate Democrats put forward their own stopgap bill that would extend funding to October 31 with additional funding…
Latest from the White House (September 30)
Potential Government Shutdown is Taken to New Levels All eyes are on Congress this week as lawmakers face a potential government shut down starting October 1 (see related article). Government shutdowns, depending on how long they last, can be incredibly disruptive and damaging to federal agencies, programs, and workers, not to mention Americans who rely on them. Last week, the White House threatened to impose additional pain on the federal workforce if Congress is unable to agree to a temporary funding measure. In a recent email to agency heads obtained by Politico, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has directed…
Trump Administration Releases FY 2027 R&D Priorities Memo
On September 23, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued their annual memorandum to federal agencies outlining the Trump Administration’s research and development priorities for fiscal year (FY) 2027. The memo is intended to inform the development of agencies’ FY 2027 budget requests. The memo continues to prioritize critical and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. In addition, the Administration intends to focus on: “energy dominance,” including exploration of polar regions and oceans; national and economic security; health, including chronic diseases; and space exploration. The memo…
Read COSSA’s 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 COSSA’s 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 President’s proposals to reduce the NIH budget by 40 percent, cut CDC by…
COSSA Releases Analysis of House LHHS Bill; Congress Considers Short-Term CR as End of Fiscal Year Approaches
As the appropriations deadline rapidly approaches on September 30, both chambers of Congress remain far from completing their twelve annual spending bills. While individual appropriations bills continue to inch forward (see related article), attention in Congress has turned to drafting a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a government shutdown in two weeks. Earlier today, the House Republicans released the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026, which, if enacted, would extend funding to November 21 to allow lawmakers additional time to finalize the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations bills. In their release, Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) also included a section-by-section explainer on the proposed…
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 COSSA’s analyses here). While it’s unlikely they’ll 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…
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 COSSA’s 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 Durbin’s (D-IL) call for the Trump Administration to restore all grants that had been terminated. The…
Latest from the White House (August 5)
Temporary Pause in NIH Funding Released After Chaotic Few Hours On July 29, the Washington Post reported on a temporary pause on the release of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, which was later lifted (see related article above). In a budget document authored by the White House Office of Management and Budget to NIH, the agency was given its “full-year apportionment” of funding for fiscal year (FY) 2025—which ends September 30. However, the document included a footnote that appeared to limit how the money could be spent, including on research grants. Democratic lawmakers were quick to respond, with statements issued by Sen….
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,…
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 “skinny budget.” 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 Administration’s budget proposal, it is important to remember that it remains a largely symbolic policy document outlining the Administration’s priorities for the year ahead. While it is possible that some of the President’s requests will be enacted, Congress has the final say over the appropriation…
Trump Signs Reconciliation Bill into Law; Senate to Mark-Up CJS Bill
On July 4, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). The bill, which has been hotly debated because of provisions pertaining to cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reallocates resources in order to pay for permanent tax cuts and increase funding for border security activities. The new law also includes several provisions of importance to the research community (see previous COSSA coverage). This includes a new cap on graduate students loans ($100,000) and professional student loans ($200,000); a termination of student loan repayment plans; and an increase of the university endowment tax…
COSSA Releases Part 1 of the President’s FY 2026 Budget Request for Social and Behavioral Science Analysis
On May 3, the Trump Administration released preliminary, high-level details of its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request, referred to as a “skinny budget.” On May 30, additional details emerged. Given the delay in this year’s budget release, COSSA is delivering its annual analysis of the President’s budget request in two parts. This first part contains our analysis of the Trump Administration’s FY 2026 funding proposals for the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation. The second part will include details on all remaining agencies important to the social and behavioral…
REGISTER NOW: Headlines Webinar on June 26
On June 26, join COSSA for the next installment in the Headlines Webinar series. This month’s meeting will focus on the release of the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget and what it means for the social and behavioral sciences. Come join the conversation. Featured speakers: The webinar will be taking place on June 26 at 2pm EST. Register here. Headlines is a webinar series available to COSSA member organizations. Watch for additional webinar announcements, and previous webinar recordings, on the COSSA website.
House Republicans Delay Markups; Reconciliation Subject to “Byrd Bath”
As previously reported, the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process is well underway with the House reviewing multiple bills, most recently 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; the Defense bill, and the Legislative Branch bill. The House has also released subcommittee allocations—or topline funding levels—for the bills already drafted. The other subcommittees have yet to receive their allocations, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) and Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) subcommittees. On June 18, the House Appropriations committee announced a delay in…
Bhattacharya Defends NIH Budget Request to Senate Appropriators
As the Congressional appropriations process continues, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was invited to defend the President’s FY 2026 before the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations subcommittee (see COSSA’s analysis). Under the President’s budget, the NIH would see steep budget cuts and a major restructuring that would reduce the institutes and centers (ICs) from 27 to 8. Throughout the hearing, Bhattacharya fielded questions on the impacts of these proposals on the research community and dismissed concerns, claiming that the proposal is the starting point of a budget…
Latest from the White House (June 24)
‘Forward Funding’ by NIH the New Norm? As COSSA has been reporting, the Trump Administration released details of its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal last month (see related article), which not only includes major funding reductions for federal science agencies, but also major shifts in policy. One such shift is how research grants would be funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). According to the NIH budget request, the agency plans to “continue the FY 2025 policy of reserving half of NIH funding allocated toward competing research project grant (RPG) awards for awards that fully fund their outyear commitments…
Congress Begins FY 26 Appropriations; Reconciliation Remains Uncertain
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…
House and Senate Hold Policy and Budget Hearings on the Dept. of Education
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…
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…
House Passes Reconciliation Package; Senate Considering Changes
On May 22, the House of Representatives passed their reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1), in a 215-214 vote. The bill included sweeping cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other welfare programs to pay for President Trump’s new tax plan as well as additional funding for immigration enforcement and border security. As previously reported by COSSA, the budget reconciliation process has been controversial, even among Republican members of Congress. Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH) were the only two Republicans to vote against the “big, beautiful bill.” Representative Andy Harris (R-MD) voted…