Congress defies Trump on huge cuts to science

The US Congress has reversed course on budget cuts slated to hit American science agencies. The House and Senate have produced an omnibus spending package to fund the rest of fiscal year 2017, which ends on 30 September. The legislation, signed into law by Trump on 5 May, rejected the cuts proposed by the president in March, instead increasing federal R&D by 5% above the 2016 levels, according to estimates by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).