FASEB Launches Advocacy Campaign Opposing Administration’s Budget Request

By: Jennifer Zeitzer
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Last week, preliminary details about the new administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request were provided to members of Congress. A complete budget document is expected to be submitted to Capitol Hill later this month. The summary document released by the administration proposes significant cuts to the federal science agencies, including an approximate 40 percent reduction for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a 60 percent cut for the National Science Foundation (NSF). 

In response, FASEB issued a statement expressing grave concerns about the administration’s request, noting that if enacted by Congress, the unprecedented cuts to NIH and NSF would severely erode progress in biomedical and biological research. The FASEB statement also thanked Congress for their bipartisan commitment to NIH over the last decade and added that continuing the strong and robust investments in research and funding the facilities and administrative costs critical to supporting this work at academic and medical institutions is the best path forward.

In addition, FASEB issued an e-action alert encouraging members of the scientific community and the public to urge their members of Congress to reject the administration’s budget and instead approve FASEB’s funding requests that were delivered to legislators during the federation’s Capitol Hill Day in March. FASEB’s FY 2026 funding recommendations will put science agencies on a path of sustained, predictable, and robust budget increases that will enable discoveries to improve and protect our health, support cutting-edge research, and train the next generation of scientists. Federal support for research also has an enormous impact on local economies, as detailed in FASEB’s Federal Funding Factsheets, which summarize how much funding each state and congressional district receives from NIH, NSF, and other agencies. 

Given that Congress has the power to determine funding levels for the federal science agencies, it is more important than ever that legislators hear from the scientific community as well as individuals who will be affected by the proposed cuts for NIH and NSF. Washington Update readers are strongly urged to share the FASEB e-action alert and statement with their networks after contacting Congress.