Dramatic reductions proposed for US science agencies by Trump administration evaporate
By 
Rebecca Trager2026-02-03T15:59:00
Final 2026 budget figures, passed by Congress and signed into law, reject significant cuts that the White House had proposed
Congress has thwarted devastating budget cuts to key US government research funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), that were proposed by the Trump administration. There is much relief within the nation’s research community.
The Association of American Universities, which represents leading US research universities, thanked Congress for ‘rejecting the administration-proposed massive cuts to key scientific research agencies’. ‘We are grateful to congressional appropriators for including small increases to the budgets of the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy Office of Science and for staving off large proposed cuts to funding for the National Science Foundation, Nasa Science, and basic research at the Department of Defense,’ the organisation said in a statement.