On Tuesday, 9 July the full House Appropriations Committee marked up their Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior and Environment, and Energy and Water spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025. These bills collectively set the spending amounts for U.S. federal science agencies, including NASA, NOAA, NSF, USGS, EPA, the Department of Energy.

Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Congress established spending caps for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The Act allows only a 1% increase in spending for FY2025 from FY2024 which greatly constrains funding.

In this two-part Bridge post, we’ll detail the funding levels and share committee report highlights impacting the Earth and space sciences.

House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill and accompanying report.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

	FY2024	President’s Budget Request FY2025	AGU Request FY2025	House FY2025
NASA Overall	$24,875.00	$25,400.00	—	$25,178.64
NASA Science	$7,334.20	$7,565.70	$9,000.00	$7,334.20
Earth	$2,195.00	$2,378.70	$2,693.48	$2,000.00
Planetary	$2,716.70	$2,731.50	$3,333.66	$2,930.25
Heliophysics	$805.00	$786.70	$987.82	$786.70
STEM EDU	$143.00	$143.50	$157.80	$89.00

*Funding numbers in millions

 

Committee Report Highlights:

• The House provides a 1.22% increase for NASA overall but keeps funding for the Science Mission Directorate level. Within NASA Science, Planetary Science receives an increase offset by decreases to Earth Science and Heliophysics.
• Within Earth Science, the committee provides $30 million for university small satellite missions, $85 million for commercial small satellite data acquisition, and $50 million to support space-based thermal/infrared sensors for early detection and warning of wildland fires.
• Within Planetary Science, the committee provides at least $235.6 million for Near-Earth Object Surveyor Mission, at least $458.3 million for the Lunar Discovery an Exploration Program and expresses support for Dragonfly. The Committee also expresses concerns about NASA’s ability to carry out the Apophis Reconnaissance Mission and provides $5 million for NASA to develop a plan for public-private partnership to carry out the mission.
• The Committee expresses commitment to Mars Sample Return and provides $650 million for the mission and direction to NASA to plan to launch the mission by 2031.
• Within Heliophysics, the committee provides $21.9 million for the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.
• The House decreases funding for the Office of STEM Education which funds Space Grant, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and MUREP by $54 million.

 

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

	FY2024	President’s Budget Request FY2025	AGU Request FY2025	House FY2025
NOAA Overall	$6,319.00	$6,560.98	$7,200.00	$5,642.80
National Ocean Service	$684.00	$808.33	—	$602.17
Oceanic & Atmospheric Research	$726.05	$645.73	—	$714.23
National Weather Service	$1,351.59	$1,367.38	—	$1,367.38
NESDIS	$1,796.94	$2,138.23	—	$1,745.00
Mission Support	$471.32	$529.36	—	$414.00
Office of Marine & Aviation Operations	$439.68	$458.96	—	$535.59

*Funding numbers in millions

 

Committee Report Highlights:

• Overall, the House cuts NOAA’s funding by 10.7% over FY2024 spending levels
• The committee cuts the agency’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office by 1.6%. Within this cut is a 30.4% cut to NOAA’s Climate Research Program, as well as a 19.9% cut to the U.S. Weather Research Program.
• The National Ocean Service receives a 12.0% cut. However, the committee provides $56 million for the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), a $13.5 million increase (32%) over FY2024 and $46 million over the amount requested by the Administration, to support disaster response, weather forecasting and hurricane predication, forecasting of freshwater and marine water quality, detection of HABs, and safe maritime operations.
• The committee also rejects the Administration’s proposed cuts to NOAA’s Ocean Exploration and Research program (-45.0%) and the Sea Grant College Program (-9.5%), but they remain funded at FY2024 levels.
• NOAA’s Office of Education receives a funding cut of more than $11 million (32%). This office is primarily responsible for helping prepare the nation’s future STEM workforce.

 

National Science Foundation (NSF)

	FY2024	President’s Budget Request FY2025	AGU Request FY2025	House FY2025
NSF Overall	$9,060.00	$10,183.00	$11,900.00	$9,258.64
Research & Related Activities	$7,176.50	$8,045.32	—	$7,546.63
STEM EDU	$1,172.00	$1,300.00	—	$1,000.00
Major Research Equipment & Facilities	$234.00	$300.00	—	$235.00
National Science Board	$5.09	$5.22	—	$4.60
Inspector General	$24.41	$28.46	—	$24.41
Agency Operation & Award Management	$448.00	$504.00	—	$448.00

*Funding numbers in millions

 

Committee Report Highlights:

• Overall, the House provides a 2.19% increase in funding for NSF, including a 5.16% increase for Research and Related Activities, which includes funding for the Geosciences Directorate. However, the STEM Education Directorate receives a 14.68% cut; the directorate funds the Graduate Research Fellowship Program among other STEM education programs.
• The committee also provides $250 million for EPSCoR, $205 million for the Regional Innovation Engines.
• The committee provides $60 million for the U.S. Sub-Seafloor Sampling Program, a follow-on program to the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). Specifically, the committee “directs NSF to utilize those resources to plan for and execute a program that will utilize a portfolio of sub-seafloor sampling approaches and expeditions, including by engaging in conversations regarding an extension of the current management contract, continuing scientific ocean drilling missions with the JR for no less than three missions in fiscal year 2025, and to support the continued operation of the JR until the expiration of the vessel’s Environmental Impact Statement. … Additionally, the Committee directs NSF to develop a strategy to maximize the scientific utilization of current and future earth core samples, including working with the current U.S. repository for scientific ocean drilling cores on a long-term plan to build out analytical capabilities and educational outreach for the earth science community.”
• The bill also provides $30 million for the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot program.
• The committee also “directs NSF to refrain from issuing guidance, restrictions, or otherwise limiting the ability of extramural grant recipients to freely license or control their written works, including under 2 Fed. Reg. 200 or guidance on ‘‘federal purpose’’ from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).”
• Despite NSF being the largest funder of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the committee provides no funding for the program or the NSF Clean Energy Technology program.

 

Included in the Commerce-Justice-Science bill are also several policy provisions that would impact the scientific enterprise:

• Section 523: Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to pay for the attendance of more than 50 department or agency employees, who are stationed in the United States, at any single conference outside the United States, unless the conference is: (1) a law enforcement training or operational event where the majority of Federal attendees are law enforcement personnel stationed outside the United States; or (2) a scientific conference for which the department or agency head has notified the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations that such attendance is in the national interest, along with the basis for such determination.
• Section 526: Prohibits the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Space Council from using funds made available by this Act by to engage in bilateral activities with China or a Chinese owned company or effectuate the hosting of official Chinese visitors at certain facilities, with certain exceptions.
• Section 541: Sets certain requirements for the allocations of funds related to the CHIPS Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–167).
• Section 552: Prohibits the use of funds made available by this or any other Act to implement or enforce the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s August 25, 2022, Memorandum, ‘‘Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research.’’
• Section 553: Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act for certain offices and programs.
  • Specifically, prohibits the use of funds for:
    • NOAA’s Office of Inclusion and Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory management Council, and NOAA Diversity and Professional Advancement Working Group
    • NASA’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion
    • NSF’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights and Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program
  • Also prohibits the use of funds for:
    • Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”
    • Executive Order 14091, “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”
    • Executive Order 14035, “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce”
    • Conducting any DEI or implicit bias training
  • Section 554: Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act for certain offices and programs.
    • Specifically, prohibits the use of funds:
      • By the Department of Commerce for NIST’s Center of Excellence in Climate Change or climate change fisheries research
      • By NSF for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) or Clean Energy technology program
    • Also prohibits use of funds for Executive Order 14008, “Tacking the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”
  • Section 562: Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to review, process, or approve grants and other agreements for any individual or organization that trains Federal employees on diversity, equity, inclusion, critical race theory, implicit bias, unconscious bias, or culturally relevant teachings.
  • Section 585: Prohibits the use of funds made available by this or any other Act for an Office of Environmental Justice.
  • Section 618: Amends the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act to clarify the definition of foreign country for purposes of malign foreign talent recruitment restriction.