August 8, 2025

Fiscal Year 2026 Appropriations Update: NASA, NOAA and NSF

Posted by bwebster

Congress left for August recess having accomplished a fraction of what’s needed to complete the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) appropriations process before the end of the fiscal year on 30 September 2025. The House Appropriations Committee passed 9 of its 12 bills, and the full House passed 2 of its 12 appropriations bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed 8 of its 12 appropriations bills, and the full Senate passed 3 of its 12 appropriations bills. It’s important to note that the House appropriations process has been highly partisan, while the Senate’s process is more bipartisan.

In this series of blog posts, we detail funding levels and highlights from the President’s Budget Request, House and Senate appropriations bills for FY26 for the Earth and space sciences.

If you’re interested in engaging your legislators on these issues this August, check out our August Days of Action for opportunities and resources.

Commerce, Justice, Science

House Bill and Report

Senate Bill and Report

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

CHANGE FROM FY2025

(funding in millions)

FY25 Enacted

FY26 PBR

FY26 House

FY26 Senate

NASA (Topline)

$24,838.33

$18,809.10

(-24.3%)

$24,838.33

(0%)

$24,899.68

(0.3%)

Science Mission Directorate

$7,334.20

$3,907.60

(-46.2%)

$6,00.00

(-18.2%)

$7,300.00

(-0.5%)

Earth Science

$2,195.00

$1,035.90

(-52.8%)

$1,325.00

(-39.6%)

$2,166.00

(-1.3%)

Planetary Science

$2,716.70

$1,891.30

(-30.4%)

$2,500.00

(-8.0%)

$2,551.80

(-6.1%)

Heliophysics

$805.00

$432.00

(-46.3%)

$625.00

(-22.4%)

$887.30

(10.2%)

STEM Engagement

$143.00

(-100%)

$84.00

(-41.26%)

$148.00

(3.5%)

HIGHLIGHTS

President’s Budget Request (PBR):

Terminates over 40 missions (more than 1/3), including top priority decadal missions, Earth System Observatory missions, Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC), and Mars Sample Return.
Cancels other significant missions, including VERITAS, DAVINCI, and HelioSwarm.
Cuts Landsat Next and directs NASA and USGS to propose a scaled-down version.
Significantly cuts Research and Analysis across SMD, a 50% cut in Earth Science, a 28% cut in Planetary Science, and a 28% cut in Heliophysics.

House Bill:

Notes the importance of the Earth System Observatory and directs NASA to select missions capable of operating in a spectrum-constrained environment.
Provides $70 million for the Sustainable Land Imaging request to support the Landsat record through Landsat Next.
Includes $266.3 million for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor Mission; $137.3 million for Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP); $300 million for Mars Sample Return; $20 million for OSIRIS Apophis Explorer; and $$494.1 million for Dragonfly.
Within Heliophysics, the House provides $54.9 million for space weather and $20 million for the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.
Provides $26 million for EPSCoR and $58 million for the Space Grant program.

Senate Bill:

Unequivocally states that the report should not be interpreted as suggestions but as statute.
Rejects all mission terminations proposed in the president’s budget request across all of NASA Science
Affirms the importance of commitments to international partners and continues the development of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars Rover
Provides $200.4 million for Earth Venture Class Missions and supports selection of Earth System Explorers; rejects the proposed termination of the Earth System Observatory missions; provides $183 million for Landsat NEXT and encourages NASA to maintain the current three-satellite architecture; and reiterates support for Earth System Modeling, including at Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).
Expresses concerns about delays in announcements of opportunities for Planetary Science New Frontiers and Discovery programs, and delays in launches, and gives NASA a timeline for these missions.
Provides $341 million for Planetary Defense, including $300 million for Near Earth Object Surveyor Mission (NEOSM); $201.2 for Lunar Discovery and Exploration; $570 million for New Frontiers, including $500 million for Dragonfly; $19.9 million for OSIRIS Apophis Explorer; $110 for Mars Future Missions; and $10 million for formulation of the Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission
Continues formulation of Venus missions, DAVINCI and VERITAS.
Within Heliophysics, $247 for research; $207.7 million for Living with a Star (LWS), including $100 million for GDC; $109.5 million for HelioSwarm; and $47.5 million for Space Weather.
Rejects the terminations of NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement and provides $63 million for Space Grant, $26 million for EPSCoR, $45.4 million for MUREP, and $13.5 million for the Next Generation STEM project.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

CHANGE FROM FY2025

(funding in millions)

FY25 Enacted

FY26 PBR

FY26 House

FY26 Senate

NOAA (Topline)

$6,182.50

$4,515.30

(-27.0%)

$5,795.05

(-6.3%)

$6,142.29

(-0.7%)

National Ocean Service

$434.25

(-36.5%)

$699.00

(2.2%)

$685.70

(0.3%)

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

(-100%)

$726.80

(0.1%)

$707.05

(-2.6%)

National Weather Service

$1,447.93

(7.1%)

$1,529.50

(13.2%)

$1,357.86

(0.5%)

NESDIS

$1,531.37

(-14.8%)

$1,605.12

(-10.7%)

$1,682.80

(-6.4%)

Mission Support

$327.22

(-30.6%)

$416.81

(-11.6%)

$437.62

(-7.2%)

Office of Marine and Aviation Operations

$432.68

(-1.6%)

$460.62

(4.8%)

$473.36

(7.7%)

HIGHLIGHTS

President’s Budget Request (PBR):

Eliminates the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). Some OAR programming is transitioned to either the National Ocean Service (NOS) or the National Weather Service (NWS) line offices.
- OAR’s Climate Research Program, the weather and ocean labs and cooperative institutes, the National Sea Grant College Program, the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, and funding for uncrewed systems are all terminated in the budget.
- Despite moving it from OAR to the NWS, funding for the U.S. Weather Research Program is cut by nearly 20%.
Under the National Ocean Service, the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is eliminated.
The Office of Education, under NOAA’s Mission Support office, is also eliminated. This terminates NOAA Education Program Base activities, the Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, and the José E. Serrano Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP).

House Bill:

While the House bill imposes some moderate cuts compared to FY2025 levels, it significantly rejects the Administration’s proposed reductions to NOAA’s scientific enterprise.
Provides $56 million for the IOOS, a 32% increase over FY2025 spending levels, to grow the system based on the highest priority needs of each region.
Includes up to $10 million to support research, development, and demonstration of multiple marine-based carbon dioxide removal, including through external grants and public-private partnerships.
An increase of $7 million is provided for the Aircraft-Based Observation Program within the National Weather to support the use and deployment of commercial aviation-based atmospheric data, with an emphasis on water vapor data for numerical weather prediction improvement.

Senate Bill:

Explicitly rejects the Administration’s proposal to eliminate OAR and terminate climate and ocean labs and cooperative institutes.
Reflects concern about staffing cuts at the NWS, including an unsuccessful amendment attempt to require inspector retention minimums.
Preserves the National Sea Grant College Program, upholding NOAA’s partnership with academia, industry, and state agencies in applied marine research and extension.
Provides $52.5 million for the Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing program and encourages the program to work with industry to procure subsurface ocean profile data to improve hurricane intensity prediction.
Includes level funding for NOAA to support the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH), including the Water in the West Initiative, and encourages NOAA to leverage CIROH’s expertise to identify high-impact, operationally relevant research.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

CHANGE FROM FY2025 (funding in millions)	FY25 Enacted	FY26 PBR	FY26 House	FY26 Senate
NSF (Topline)	$9,060.00	$3,903.15 (-56.9%)	$7,000.00 (-22.7%)	$9,000.00 (-0.7%)
Research and Related Activities	$7,176.50	$2,987.57 (-58.4%)	$6,373.00 (-11.2%)	$7,067.19 (-1.5%)
Education and Human Resources	$1,172.00	N/A*	N/A*	$1,000.00 (-14.7%)
Major Research Equipment and Facilities	$234.00	$251.00 (7.3%)	$251 (7.3%)	$355.00 (49.6%)
National Science Board	$5.09	$3.00 (-41.1%)	$3.00 (-41.1%)	$5.09 (0%)
Office of Inspector General	$24.41	$18.00 (-26.3%)	$18.00 (-26.3%)	$24.41 (0%)
Agency Operations and Award Management	$448.00	$355.00 (-20.8%)	$355.00 (-20.8%)	$444.00 (-0.9%)

*Both the FY26 President’s Budget Request and the House appropriations bill move the Education and Human Resources Directorate into Research and Related Activities.

HIGHLIGHTS

President’s Budget Request (PBR):

Moves the Education and Human Resources Directorate (EDU) and Mission Support Services into Research and Related Activities.
Proposes shifting the Agency Operation and Award Management (AOAM) to a two-year budget authority.
For competitive awards, the funding rate decreased from 26% to 7% (from 9,600 awards to 2,300 awards), and for research grant awards, the funding rate decreased from 24% to 6% (from 7,300 awards to 1,700 awards).

House Bill:

Includes $250 million for EPSCoR; $205 million for the Regional Innovation Engines; and $25 million for the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resources Pilot Program (NAIRR).
Provides $60 million for the U.S. Sub-Seafloor Sampling Program (S3P), the follow-on program to the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).
Reiterates the importance of the Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science and activities authorized under the law.
Accepts OMB’s request to consolidate the Education and Human Resources Directorate into Research and Related Activities.
Expressed concern about pauses to Antarctic field research, ongoing infrastructure challenges

Senate Bill:

Emphasizes support for Earth-Systems Science; Clean Energy in partnership with the Department of Energy; Arctic Research; and Permafrost Research in partnership with the EPA and the Department of Energy.
Provides $255 for EPSCoR; $200 million for the Regional Innovation Engines and directs NSF to award 20% Engines to institutions in EPSCoR States; $30 million for the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resources Pilot Program (NAIRR); and $50 million for Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure.
Reiterates the importance of the Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science and activities authorized under the law.
Supports the newly awarded Scientific Ocean Drilling Coordinating Office.
Expresses dismay about the cancellation of many REU programs in 2025 and provides not less than the fiscal year 2024 enacted funding in 2026.
Expresses concerns about pausing Antarctic field research as well as the lack of community and stakeholder consultation in decision-making and directs NSF to request sufficient resources to support infrastructure upgrades in the future.
Calls for a National Academies study on NSF research infrastructure.
Rejects the consolidation of the Education and Human Resources Directorate into Research and Related Activities.