In a rebuff of the Trump administration’s proposal to drastically cut funding for federal science agencies, the Senate voted on Thursday to provide billions of dollars more to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the National Science Foundation than the president had asked for.
In an 82-15 vote, the Senate approved a minibus budget bill to fund agencies involved in science and the environment, among other issues, through Sept. 30. The bill passed in the House last week by a vote of 397 to 28.
Had Congress followed the Trump administration’s budget request, it would have slashed the National Science Foundation’s budget by 57%, and funding for the portion of NASA dedicated to science research by about 47%, according to a bill summary from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. NOAA, which oversees the National Weather Service, faced a 27% cut, according to congressional testimony last summer.
The bill will now go to President Donald Trump to sign.
Although it does reduce overall spending, the bill’s bipartisan support suggests that most members of Congress chose to preserve the status quo or implement relatively modest cuts.
The package even includes notable boosts for a few science programs that the Trump administration had singled out for elimination in its budget request, such as NOAA’s satellite program. It also provides funding to boost National Weather Service staffing, which the administration cut significantly via buyout offers and its firing of probationary workers.
The bill was a bipartisan measure led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Murray.
In floor remarks on Monday, Collins called herself a “strong supporter of the NSF,” referring to the National Science Foundation, which provides about a quarter of federal funding for basic science research, according to its website.
“I’m pleased that we restored funding that was proposed to be cut, and I’m also delighted that we dealt with an issue that has been a very high priority for me, and that is how we handle indirect research costs,” Collins said.
Indirect research costs are a funding category that covers items like equipment, operations, maintenance, accounting and personnel. The Trump administration earlier this year attempted to set a new, lower limit on the amount of money that could be spent on those costs, but the budget package will prevent agencies from doing so.
In a bill summary, Murray highlighted that the legislation provided $1.67 billion more than Trump had asked for NOAA and $5.63 billion more for NASA.
“We rejected Trump’s plan to slash the funding for scientific research and the National Science Foundation’s budget by 57%, cut NASA’s science budget in half and devastate NOAA and climate research that all of us rely on for accurate weather forecasting,” she said in a floor speech on Monday.
“These bills reassert Congress’s power over key spending decisions,” Murray added.
When asked if the president would sign the bill, the White House directed NBC News to a statement earlier this month from the White House Office of Management and Budget. The statement said that the administration supported the bill and noted that it decreased overall spending and would help the nation achieve “energy dominance,” among other goals.
“If this bill were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he sign it into law,” the statement said.
Congress is slated to take up more minibus bills soon — for agencies involved in labor, health care, national security and other issues. Lawmakers are supposed to approve spending by Jan. 30, when the stopgap funding measure that ended the 43-day government shutdown expires.
In Thursday's remarks, Collins said her goal was to get bills signed before that deadline and avoid “disastrous government shutdowns that are totally unnecessary and so harmful.”
