US lawmakers vote to cut science spending—but reject Trump’s sweeping reductions

A draft bill would preserve NASA’s overall funding but downsize the National Science Foundation’s budget by 20 percent.By Dan Garisto & Nature magazine President Trump’s proposal for huge cuts to a number of key science agencies was rejected by a Congressional panel Thursday. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesMembers of the US House of Representatives signalled that they would again reject a proposal by the administration of US President Donald Trump to slash science spending. But the bill advanced by a House subcommittee on Thursday still calls for substantial cuts to science education and spending by agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Senate, which also has a say on federal budgets, has yet to schedule a hearing on its own spending bill.Last year, the Trump administration proposed unprecedented cuts to science agencies in 2026, only for Congress to reject those cuts and instead keep science spending relatively flat. In April, the Trump administration tried again, calling for the NSF’s 2027 spending to fall by 55% from 2026 levels and for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s and NASA’s to fall by more than 27% and by 23%, respectively. According to the administration’s 2027 budget proposal, “every tool in the