August 8, 2025
Congress left for August recess having accomplished a fraction of what’s needed to complete the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) appropriations process before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025. The House Appropriations Committee passed 9 of its 12 bills, and the full House passed 2 of its 12 appropriations bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed 8 of its 12 appropriations bills, and the full Senate passed 3 of its 12 appropriations bills. It’s important to note that the House appropriations process has been highly partisan, while the Senate’s process is more bipartisan.
In this series of blog posts, we detail funding levels and highlights from the President’s Budget Request, House and Senate appropriations bills for FY26 for the Earth and space sciences.
If you’re interested in engaging your legislators on these issues this August, check out our August Days of Action for opportunities and resources.
Senate Bill and Report
Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science
| CHANGE FROM FY2025
(funding in millions) |
FY25 Enacted | FY26 PBR | FY26 House | FY26 Senate |
| DOE (Topline) | $50,170.03 | $46,320.00
(-7.7%) |
$48,773.87
(-2.8%) |
TBD |
| Office of Science | $8,240.00 | $7,092.00
(-13.9%) |
$8,400.00
(1.9%) |
TBD |
| Basic Energy Science (BES) | $2,625.63 | $2,241.00
(-14.7%) |
$2,728.84
(3.9%) |
TBD |
| Biological & Environmental Research (BER) | $900.00 | $394.92
(-56.12%) |
$790.00
(-12.2%) |
TBD |
| Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | $3,460.00 | $888.00
(-74.3%) |
$1,850.00
(-46.5%) |
TBD |
| HARP-E | $460.00 | $200.00
(-56.5%) |
$350.00
(-23.9%) |
TBD |
HIGHLIGHTS
President’s Budget Request (PBR):
- Biological and Environmental Research (BER) activities in environmental system sciences, atmospheric system research, earth system modeling, data management, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility are terminated.
- Within the Office of Science, the request supports identifying and accelerating critical and emerging technologies to strengthen the connection between advances in fundamental Science and technological innovation.
- Within the Office of Science, the request increases funding for artificial intelligence and machine learning, quantum information sciences, basic research on critical minerals/materials, microelectronics, and accelerating fusion development.
House Bill:
- Provides no funding for Energy Earthshots.
- Includes $35 million for EPSCoR, $245 million for quantum information science, $2.5 million for academic nuclear science research.
- Supports $417.5 million for Biological Systems Science and $372.5 million for Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences, rejecting OMB’s steep proposed cuts to BER, including many related to Earth science.
- The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility receives $95 million, rejecting the Administration’s proposal to close the facility.
Senate Bill:
- As of 31 July 2025, the House bill covering the Department of Energy funding has not been released.
House Bill and Report
Senate Bill and report
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
| CHANGE FROM FY2025
(funding in millions) |
FY25 Enacted | FY26 PBR** | FY26 House | FY26 Senate |
| NIEHS (Topline) | $913.98 | $594.10
(-35.0%) |
TBD | $913,989
(0%) |
| Superfund Research Program (SRP) | $79.71 | $51.80
(-35.0%) |
$51.81
(-35.0%) |
$79.71
(0%) |
HIGHLIGHTS
President’s Budget Request (PBR):
- Proposes to relocate NIEHS, including the Superfund Research Program, out of the National Institutes of Health and into the Administration for a Healthy America (also within the Department of Health & Human Services).
- Both NIEHS and its Superfund Research Program are cut by 35%.
House Bill:
- As of 31 July 2025, the House bill covering NIEHS funding has not been released.
Senate Bill:
- As of 31 July 2025, the Senate report covering NIEHS funding has not been released.
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