Senate Appropriators Signal Support for Federal Science Funding
The Senate Appropriations Committee set its intention to fund federal research on space, science, and agriculture at near fiscal year (FY) 2025 enacted levels. This marks a clear departure from the President's budget request and comes as a relief to many scientists concerned with the deep funding cuts proposed by the executive branch.
The Senate Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill includes $9 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), a $60 million decrease in funding relative to FY 2025 enacted. The proposed 0.67% cut is markedly smaller than President Trump's proposed 57% reduction. The bill would slightly increase funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to $24.9 billion, and provide flat funding of $7.3 billion to its science programs. The President proposed slashing NASA's science budget by nearly half.
While the CJS bill's advancement out of the committee remains stalled due to partisan negotiations over the FBI headquarters location, the spending levels in the initial bill suggest support across the aisle for sustained science funding. During the markup held last week, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) proposed an amendment to restore funding for most cancelled NSF grants. While this amendment failed in the committee, CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) offered to work towards a compromise before the bill reaches the Senate floor. The markup of the CJS bill in the House was initially scheduled to take place last week but has now been rescheduled to Tuesday.
The Senate spending panel unanimously approved its Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill rejecting the Administration's proposed cuts. The measure would slightly boost funding for agricultural research within the U.D. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The bill, which now moves to the Senate floor, would provide $1.87 billion, a small 2% increase, to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and $1.7 billion (+1%) to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Under NIFA, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) would receive level funding of $445 million. The President proposed a 38% cut to NIFA, a 5% cut to ARS and a 9% cut to AFRI.
Notably, the agriculture bill bars USDA from closing or consolidating ARS labs without getting prior approval from House and Senate appropriators. Senators also raised questions about USDA's recent freeze on NIFA grant applications and directed the agency to fully staff ARS labs regardless of proposed closures in the budget request.
Reconciliation Bill Passes, Enacting Sweeping Changes
President Trump signed the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act" into law on his self-imposed July 4 deadline, marking a major legislative victory and a broad extension of his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The bill narrowly passed the Senate in a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The bill then returned for marathon negotiations in the House, where the Senate-revised version passed 218-214. All Democrats voted against the bill, and Representatives Thomas Massie (KY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA) were the only House Republicans to vote no.
The extensive budget reconciliation package covered a broad range of issues. The final version kept major cuts to clean energy tax credits and other provisions promoting renewable energy, while promoting oil and gas industries.
Federal student loans face several changes. The law eliminates the subsidized Grad PLUS loan program and introduces caps on graduate student loans. These caps include a maximum of $20,500 per year ($100,000 lifetime limit) for graduate loans and $50,000 per year ($200,000 lifetime limit) for professional degree loans. Moreover, parents are limited to borrowing $20,000 per year per student with a $65,000 lifetime limit per student. The law also condenses federal student loan repayment plan options, limits eligibility for Pell Grants, and removes loan deferment options in cases of economic hardship.
The Senate version expanded excise taxes on university endowments, exempting small universities but modifying an earlier version of the bill to include religious universities in this tax. Moreover, the law restores deductions for domestic research and development expenditures.
Other key provisions of the law include tax cuts, increased funding for border security and defense, cuts to Medicaid and other welfare programs, and a $5 trillion increase to the federal debt ceiling. During House negotiations, several Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with changes made by the upper chamber that "[gut] key Trump provisions," while Democrats and some Republicans voiced concerns over the impacts of Medicaid and SNAP rollbacks. Critics and supporters alike wait to see how this legislation resonates with the public and impacts the next midterm elections.
NOAA Nominees Face Senate Scrutiny
Following catastrophic floods in Texas that claimed more than 100 lives, Senators pressed two of President Trump's nominees for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during a nomination hearing held by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee last week, raising concerns about deep budget cuts and staffing shortages under the Administration's proposed plans.
Neil Jacobs, nominated to lead NOAA, pledged to fully staff the National Weather Service and modernize forecasting tools but defended the Administration's proposal to slash $2.2 billion from the agency's budget, eliminate over 2,000 positions, and dissolve its Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which conducts climate change research.
Jacobs advocated for greater partnerships with the private sector and emphasized a goal to restore U.S. leadership in global weather modeling. Lawmakers voiced concern that the proposed cuts could undermine NOAA's capacity to track extreme weather, conduct fisheries research, and respond to the worsening impacts of climate change. Jacobs acknowledged a human influence on climate but avoided directly challenging the Administration's skepticism of climate science.
Taylor Jordan, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, also testified, stressing the need to "push the technology stack forward" and enhance data collection to improve disaster response.
Senators from both parties raised alarms about the Administration's plans to defund the Sea Grant program, scale back university research, and cut support for fish stock assessments. With appropriations decisions looming, the hearing underscored deep concerns over NOAA's readiness to meet growing environmental and public safety challenges.
Agencies Roll Back Environmental Regulations
The Trump administration is intensifying its deregulatory agenda by dismantling key components of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Enacted in 1970, NEPA is a landmark environmental law requiring federal agencies to evaluate the environmental impact of major projects. It has been crucial in shaping infrastructure and safeguarding natural resources, notably by allowing public input on federal proposals.
In line with the Administration's priorities, the Department of Energy (DOE) has issued an interim final rule revoking its NEPA regulations and replacing them with implementation guidelines. This action stems from a Day One Executive Order issued at the start of President Trump's second term. A subsequent Executive Order set a June 30 deadline for reforming NEPA compliance rules and directed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to "use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite the Department's environmental reviews." The Supreme Court's unanimous decision in May to limit the extent of judicial review required under NEPA further paved the way for this regulatory rollback.
The new NEPA implementation guidance introduce reforms such as "streamlining" processes by reducing assessment time maximums, implementing page limits, requiring strict deadlines, and using "common sense" direction that draws only on "verified scientific studies that already exist and not contemplating wildly unfathomable scenarios that they do not have legal authority to address."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is similarly striking NEPA regulations in an interim final rule. The department has consolidated seven regulations specific to its agencies into one set of NEPA rules for the entire department. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins praised the move away from "burdensome regulations," adding that this update prevents the delays of projects "critical to the health of our forests and prosperity of rural America."
Critics argue that the new rules will effectively silence citizen input on public infrastructure projects and remove important safeguards to protect the environment and local communities. These interim final rules, which took effect on July 3, are open for public comment. The DOE will accept comments until August 4, 2025 and the USDA will accept input until July 30, 2025.
EPA Employees Send "Declaration of Dissent" to Administrator Zeldin
On June 30, 2025, current and former employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a "Declaration of Dissent" to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. As of now, 620 EPA staffers have signed the letter, and an additional 8,900 non-affiliated supporters have endorsed it. The letter is hosted on the site of the non-profit, Stand Up for Science, which recently organized nationwide rallies in response to cuts to federal research funding.
Taking after the Bethesda Declaration by National Institute of Health employees in early June, this declaration highlighted five primary concerns with the current EPA administration. These concerns involve i) "undermining public trust," and promoting partisan messaging; ii) placing business interests over scientific expertise; iii) degrading environmental supports for vulnerable communities; iv) cutting down long-term research investment efforts and making research vulnerable to political influence; and v) creating a "culture of fear" in the agency.
The letter offered examples of these concerns, including the use of official EPA communications to criticize former presidents and the weakening of regulations on PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," in drinking water.
According to E&E News, an agency spokesperson responded to the declaration with assurance that the EPA remains in line with its mission and "bound by laws established by Congress," adding that "the vast majority [of EPA staffers] are consummate professionals who take pride in the work this agency does."
Concerns about a "culture of fear" are reflected in the one-third of signers who chose to remain anonymous upon signing for fear of retaliation. These fears were largely realized a few days later when 144 named signers were placed on administrative leave by the EPA through July 17, "pending an administrative investigation." EPA stated they have "a zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the administration's agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November." All employees who signed have now been anonymized on the letter.
The union representing many of these EPA employees plans to defend signers against this "act of retaliation." Prior to these suspensions, over 1,400 employees left the EPA since the start of the year, and at least 280 had been terminated.
Senate Appropriators Hold Hearing on Diabetes Research
The Senate Committee on Appropriations held a well-attended hearing titled, "A Future Without Type 1 Diabetes: Accelerating Breakthroughs and Creating Hope," featuring testimonies from teenagers living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) along with the Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), Dr. Griffin Rodgers.
Witnesses living with T1D emphasized the value of recent advancements such as continuous glucose monitors and smarter insulin pumps. Dr. Rogers highlighted ongoing research on stem-cell therapies and a newly approved antibody treatment to delay the onset of T1D, along with longitudinal studies of childhood diabetes.
The co-chairs of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) applauded the advancements made under the Special Diabetes Program (SDP), which dedicates additional funds for T1D research and diabetes research among American Indians/Alaska Natives, and highlighted their co-sponsored legislation to reauthorize the SDP.
Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) underscored gestational diabetes and Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) highlighted the collaborative role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the NIDDK in understanding diabetes. In closing, Senator Collins remarked, "We will never give up until there is a cure."
House Democrats Respond to NSF Relocation
In a letter to the head of the General Services Administration (GSA), House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Research and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Haley Stevens (D-MI) called for answers about the abrupt decision to vacate the National Science Foundation (NSF) from its current headquarters to make way for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The lawmakers requested explanations for how these decisions were made, including timelines for relocation and security considerations for HUD. Specifically, they argued that the NSF building, currently designed for a lower-risk agency, lacks the advanced "Level III security posture" required for a Cabinet-level department like HUD. The lawmakers noted that the costs for such security upgrades upwards of $50 million. Lofgren and Stevens further accuse HUD Secretary Scott Turner of requesting "luxury accommodations" such as an executive dining room and private gym to be added in the planned HUD renovations.
While a GSA spokesperson cited efficient use of taxpayer resources as a reason for this change, the GSA is still developing a response to the lawmakers' letter.
Dates Changed: Writing for Impact and Influence Online Course
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is once again offering its popular professional development program to help scientists and students hone their written communication skills to increase the power of their message.
Writing for Impact and Influence provides practical instruction and hands-on exercises that will improve the participant's general writing proficiency. The program will provide participants with the skills and tools needed to compose scientific press releases, blog posts, memoranda, and more, with a focus on the reader experience.
Each product-oriented session will have an assignment (deadlines are flexible), with feedback from the instructor. The course is interactive, and participants are encouraged to ask questions and exchange ideas with the instructor and other participants. Each session is also recorded and shared with all participants to accommodate scheduling conflicts.
Who Should Take the Course?
- Individuals interested in furthering their professional development by augmenting their writing skills.
- Graduate students and early-career professionals interested in increasing their marketability to employers.
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Individuals interested in more effectively informing and influencing segments of the public, supervisors, policymakers, reporters, organizational leaders, and others.
The course consists of six weekly 90-minute online modules conducted live and subsequently archived online for participant review. The course will begin on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, with subsequent course sessions held weekly on Wednesdays, through October 15. Individuals who actively participate in and complete the full course will receive a certificate recognizing that they have completed a nine-hour professional development course on business writing for scientists.
Register now.
Registration Closes Today: Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits
Registration is currently open for the 2025 Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits event organized by the American Institute of Biological Sciences
Now in its 16th year, this national initiative is an opportunity for biologists across the country to meet with their federal or state elected officials to showcase the people, facilities, and equipment that are required to support and conduct scientific research. This initiative helps to put a face on science and to remind lawmakers that science is happening in their district and state.
The Biological Sciences Congressional District Visits event enables scientists, graduate students, representatives of research facilities, and people affiliated with scientific collections to meet with their federal or state elected officials without traveling to Washington, DC. Participating scientists can meet with their elected officials at the local district office or invite them to visit their research facility.
"I am grateful for the experience, which has enriched my professional development. I am particularly pleased to think that we started a conversation with Rep. Joyce Beatty's office that will continue in the future. I encourage everyone to reach out beyond their scientific community, which includes explaining your science to your district offices."
- Coralie Farinas, Graduate Student, Ohio State University
AIBS will schedule participants' meetings with lawmakers and will prepare participants through online training and one-on-one support. Meetings will take place mid-July through October, depending on the participant's schedule and their lawmaker's availability. Read the Frequently Asked Questions for more information.
This event is made possible by the American Institute of Biological Sciences, with the support of event sponsors American Society of Primatologists, Botanical Society of America, Florida International University Institute of Environment, Helminthological Society of Washington, Natural Science Collections Alliance, Organization of Biological Field Stations, Paleontological Society, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, and Society for the Study of Evolution.
Registration for participation is free, but required and closes on July 14, 2025. To learn more and register, visit io.aibs.org/cdv.
Short Takes
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has amended previous restrictions on foreign funding to allow exceptions for ongoing human subject research and funding applications for human subject research submitted prior to May 1, 2025. New grant applications and grant renewals submitted on or after May 1 that contain foreign subawards will still not be reviewed until after a new system is formed to track foreign awards separately. This revision has been particularly welcomed by researchers in South Africa, who were disproportionately affected by NIH funding changes, as funding freezes were lifted on existing grants to the country.
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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 12-11, along party lines, to advance the nomination of Dr. Susan Monarez for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director. Her nomination will next be voted on by the full Senate. Her nomination comes after President Trump withdrew his initial pick Dr. David Weldon in March. Critics, such as Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have called out Monarez's inaction against Secretary Kennedy's vaccine misinformation during her time as acting CDC Director, while supporters such as Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA)--who did not support Weldon's nomination--have praised Monarez's commitment to "improving transparency" and "communicating health guidance to the American people."
- President Trump has appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as interim head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), following the withdrawal of previous nominee Jared Isaacman. The agency faces leadership uncertainty, looming budget cuts--including a proposed $6 billion slash to climate research--and the loss of over 2,000 staff through early retirement and buyouts. Duffy, a former Congressman and Fox Business host, takes over from current head Janet Petro.
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A new bipartisan BIOTech Caucus has launched in the House, co-chaired by Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Stephanie Bice (R-OK). The caucus aims to bolster America's global leadership in biotechnology, gather insights from experts, and strengthen bioliteracy among federal lawmakers. This group of representatives intend to focus on biosecurity, bio-related innovation and entrepreneurship, and the bio-workforce to address America's economic and national security needs.
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On July 8, 2025, Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hosted, "The Things We'll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants," a poster session-style event featuring researchers from across the country whose federal grants were recently canceled. The research topics ranged from infrastructure collaborations in the Arctic to cell fate determination in zebrafish to metabolic predictors of prostate cancer in African American men. Nobel Laureate Dr. Adam Riess spoke during the event on the vast losses America faces due to these cuts, noting "we won't just lose progress, we'll lose people."
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All current members of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) have been let go and will be replaced by appointees selected by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. The ACD, composed of external experts who typically serve multi-year terms, plays a key role in advising NIH leadership on major policies and initiatives. According to Science the move has sparked concern among NIH scientists, who worry the reconstituted committee may reflect a "monolithic perspective" aligned too closely with the Director. The overhaul follows a similar shake-up at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
From the Federal Register
The following items appeared in the Federal Register from June 30 to July 11, 2025.
Agriculture
Commerce
Energy
Environmental Protection Agency
Health and Human Services
Interior
National Science Foundation
