Senators Push Back Against Proposed NASA Budget Cuts in Bipartisan Show of Support

Lawmakers from both parties are signaling strong resistance to the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to NASA, particularly targeting reductions to the agency’s science and exploration programs, Bloomberg reports.

During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) spending bill, senators revealed a budget plan that would largely preserve NASA’s current funding, marking a sharp contrast to the White House’s proposal.

The Senate’s draft budget allocates $24.9 billion to NASA for fiscal year 2026 — roughly in line with the agency’s 2025 funding — and significantly more than the Trump administration’s request, which included a 24% cut to NASA’s overall budget. The president’s plan also proposed slashing NASA’s science portfolio by nearly 50% and eliminating more than 50 active and planned science missions.

“We rejected cuts that would have devastated NASA science by 47% and would have terminated 55 operating and planned missions,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). “And instead we provide $7.3 billion.”

The Senate proposal also preserves funding for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon, and maintains support for the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule — key elements of the mission. The Trump budget had proposed phasing out SLS and Orion following their third flights, describing them as “grossly expensive and delayed.”

Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), a senior member of the appropriations committee, said the Senate bill “reflects an ambitious approach to space exploration,” adding that it prioritizes Artemis while “rejecting premature termination of systems like SLS and Orion before commercial replacements are ready.”

Support for SLS has also come from other high-profile lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who authored a provision in Trump’s recent tax bill that allocated an additional $4.1 billion to support a fourth and fifth flight of the SLS rocket.