On Friday, 3 April, the fiscal year 2027 (FY27) President’s budget request (PBR) was released. Based on the details released, the request is largely a repeat of the president’s FY26 budget, as expected. The Administration has now had a year to appoint its political leaders and review agencies’ actions, so we also expect to see more robust plans to implement their priorities. For example, we expect to receive more details about the implementation of many of the past year’s executive orders related to artificial intelligence, gold standard science, nuclear energy, and space.

In keeping with last year’s request, the cuts to science funding and programs are devastating.  

Agency	FY25	FY26 PBR	% Change FY25 to FY26 PBR	FY26 Final	FY27 PBR	% Change FY26 to FY27 PBR
DOE	$50,246.75	$45,100	-9.4%	$49,124.34	$53,912.98	9.8%
DOE Office of Science	$8,240	$7,092	- 13.9%	$8,400.00	$7,138.82	-15.0%
EPA	$9,158.89	$5,000	-54.5%	$8,816.89	$4,200.96	-52.4%
NASA	$24,875	$18,800	-24.3%	$24,438.34	$18,829.10	-23.0%
NASA SMD	$7,334.2	$3,907	- 46.7%	$7,250	$3,893.90	-46.3%
Earth Science	$2,195	$1,035.90	-52.8%	$2,153	$1,021.20	-52.6%
Planetary Science	$2,716.70	$1,891.30	-30.4%	$2,541.20	$1,875.70	-26.2%
Heliophysics	$805	$432	-46.3%	$874.80	$419.60	-52.0%
NIEHS	$997.02	NA	NA	$913.98	NA	NA
NOAA	$6,319	$4,799	-24%	$6,170.94	$4,456.51	-27.8%
NSF	$8,800	$3,900	-55.8%	$8,750	$3,963.15	-54.7%
USGS	$1,455.43	$891.56	-38.7%	$1,420.43	$892.67	-37.2%

 * In millions of dollars

There are several proposals to dramatically reorganize agencies in the budget, including: 

• Once again, the Administration proposes to consolidate the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) with other National Institutes of Health (NIH) centers.  

• The budget also proposes to merge NSF’s STEM Directorate with the other science directorates, all within the Research and Related Activities funding line. 

• Repeating last year, the request proposes to eliminate the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Ecosystems Mission Area. 

Although Congress largely rejected the cuts to science prescribed in the President’s FY26 Budget Request, we cannot assume they will do so again – the politics and fiscal landscape this year are different. For example, the Administration has requested $200 billion in additional funding for the war in Iran, and it’s also an election year, which brings with it both intraparty and partisan conflicts.  

We cannot solve either of those challenges, but we can show up and be vocal about the importance of science. The AGU community got LOUD last year, and together we protected science from the worst harms in the president’s FY26 budget request. To overcome the ongoing threats to science, our community must stay LOUD and ENGAGED!  

Email your members of Congress today about these devastating cuts to science. Also consider joining our 21-22 April Days of Action in Washington, D.C. by signing up by Thursday, 9 April.

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