Planetary Science Caucus Co-Chairs Bacon & Chu Issue Statement on White House’s Proposed Budget Cuts to NASA Science

WASHINGTON – Last week, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) funds request, which proposes to chop NASA’s total funds by 23% and reduce NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) by 47%. This request would additionally terminate greater than 40 house missions, together with the Mars Sample Return mission led by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a first-of-its-kind mission to return samples from Mars to Earth and unlock groundbreaking insights into the planet’s historical past and the potential for previous life.

Reps. Don Bacon (NE-02) and Judy Chu (CA-28), who co-Chair the bipartisan Congressional Planetary Science Caucus, launched the next joint assertion in response:

“We are deeply alarmed that the Administration is once again proposing significant budget cuts to NASA and its science programs. NASA Science supports thousands of jobs and is essential to U.S. national security and leadership in space exploration, scientific discovery, and technological innovation. These drastic cuts would create enormous chaos and uncertainty for critical missions, the scientific workforce, and long-term research planning. At the same time, current funding for NASA Science has not kept pace with inflation, underscoring the need for more investment, not less. That is why, just weeks ago, we led over 100 bipartisan House Members in a letter to appropriators urging increased funding for NASA Science, and we will continue working on a bipartisan basis to ensure NASA receives the full, sustained funding it needs to lead the world in discovery and exploration.”

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