News - NASA has been implementing substantial budget cuts that Congress may not actually authorize.

NASA has been slashing programs all year, including throwing the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) out of its building, asking employees to take buyouts, and defunding some of its most important research centers. Given that the Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget called for a 24% budget cut for NASA, including a 47% cut to its scientific endeavours, this might seem like something the space agency just has to do. Funny thing, though: it's a proposed budget. The actual budget has to be passed by Congress. While we're going to have to wait for the legislature to negotiate an end to the government shutdown, early indications are that it won't end up slashing NASA's budget at all. In other words, all the damage this year might be for nothing. Space.com has an excellent report on what's been going on, indicating that Trump appointees have been directing NASA to remake itself in the proposal's image. It's a devastating outlook — custom hardware that can't easily be replaced is simply gone, and along with them, key scientists with both deep institutional and technical knowledge. These are potentially permanent blows that can't easily be undone, if at all. The real tragedy, though, is that this wasn't merely avoidable, it really shouldn't have happened at all. As Space.com's report reveals, much of this was explicitly stated as aligning with the proposed budget. Yet the Appropriations Committees in both the House and Senate — with Republican majorities in both chambers — have already advanced bills that keep NASA funding at last year's level. In other words, Republican Congress has already quietly rejected the Trump administration's proposal. So why are the cuts happening anyway?