‘They are going to be rejected again’: NASA chief faces grilling on Trump’s budget proposal

By Jackie Wattles, CNN

(CNN) — Congressmembers from both sides of the aisle are vowing to reject the White House’s proposal to slash NASA’s 2027 budget by nearly a quarter.

The pushback came as NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman appeared before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Wednesday, during a hearing largely focused on President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts and how they might impact the space agency’s lofty ambitions amid a new space race.

Republican Rep. Brian Babin of Texas made clear he does not support the White House proposal, noting that Congress rejected similar plans last year, and he is “confident that they are going to be rejected again.”

“I simply do not believe that this budget proposal is capable of supporting what President Trump himself has directed the agency to accomplish over the course of his two terms, nor what Congress has directed by law,” Babin said.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California and the committee’s ranking member, added, “That’s just not a winning strategy.”

Democrats on the committee also alleged that NASA leadership moved forward last year with implementing parts of Trump’s proposed 2026 budget cuts despite the fact that federal lawmakers rejected the plan in their annual appropriations bill.

Under the US Constitution, federal lawmakers are given the power to enact a budget. While the sitting president routinely issues an annual “request” in an attempt to steer Congress, the appropriations bills passed by the House and Senate — and signed by the president — are the final authority on federal spending.

House Democrats allege that NASA authorities last year may have violated that constitutional framework in attempting to enact the presidential budget request, or PBR. Such moves affected at least three NASA science and research programs, according to a report released Friday by Democratic staff with the House Science committee.

NASA did not reply to CNN’s request for comment on the report.

Lofgren said in the hearing that the alleged actions took place before Isaacman, who was confirmed for the job in December, took over at the agency. But Isaacman did not directly respond to claims that NASA acted inappropriately.

The agency does have some ability to squash or alter course on programs that are in the early stages of development, particularly if the law is unclear about Congressional intent for a project, noted Cristina Chaplain, a former NASA auditor with the federal Government Accountability Office. That could have been the case for some of the projects at issue in the Democrats’ report, Chaplain noted.

But Lofgren said she wanted to ensure Isaacman would “adhere to the law and what Congress has enacted.”

Isaacman responded, “Let me just say — from the get-go — of course, we will always follow the law at NASA.”

In his opening remarks on Wednesday, Isaacman had also argued for some of the project cancelations mapped out in Trump’s latest 2027 budget request. The programs pegged for closure include one designed to return the first soil sample from Mars and phasing out NASA’s massive Space Launch System moon rocket — which powered the Artemis II lunar flyby mission earlier this month — in favor of commercial rocket options.

“The President’s budget supports investments in aeronautics that will advance civil, commercial and national security, aviation, especially next generation air transportation systems for safer air traffic control,” Isaacman said.

What Trump’s budget says

The president’s 2027 budget request, released in early April, includes a proposal to give a billion-dollar boost to the agency’s moon-focused Artemis program.

Isaacman has made clear that returning humans to the moon and eventually establishing a permanent lunar settlement under the Artemis program should be NASA’s top priority, given that the agency is racing its archrival, China, to achieve such goals.

“This is not necessarily like the 1960s where, it turns out, in hindsight, we had almost unlimited schedule margin,” Isaacman said Wednesday. “This is different now. I say it often — that the difference between winning and losing will be measured in months, not years, and that should create a sense of urgency.”

But the budget request also recommends deep cuts to NASA’s science budget and the elimination of other programs, including STEM education — to the tune of nearly 50%. Overall, the proposed budget would cut the agency’s top line by $5.6 billion, or 23%.

Isaacman faced a grilling over these proposed slashes.

Christina Koch — one of the Artemis II astronauts who became the first woman to travel beyond Earth orbit — personally benefitted from a STEM grant during her educational career in a program that would be zeroed out under the PBR, noted North Carolina Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross.

“Ending these grants at a time when this nation just witnessed the wonders of space will thwart the education and dreams of the next generation of scientists,” Ross argued.

Isaacman replied that NASA can still reinvigorate a new generation of scientists and engineers even without an education budget, in part because the agency’s Artemis program will naturally inspire young people to pursue STEM careers. He added that NASA has a robust internship program.

Science cuts and climate research

Separately, lawmakers questioned Isaacman on his plans for NASA’s science initiatives, especially those related to Earth science.

Isaacman argued that NASA should eventually hand over some of its in-house duties operating satellites that track and study weather and climate to the private sector. He said that Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and several other commercial companies operate constellations of satellites that could be outfitted with Earth science equipment at a lower cost to the taxpayer.

The companies “have reached out to us and said, ‘Give us this mandate, and we can incorporate these tools.’ Now we’re proceeding carefully at it,” Isaacman said. “We do presently inhabit just one planet, and understanding Earth science is paramount for agriculture industry and natural disaster response. We do value this science and intend to work with industry to get after this data more affordably.”

Isaacman also faced questions about past comments he made regarding climate science research. He has previously suggested that he does not believe NASA should be in the business of authoring papers that make definitive statements regarding the realities of the climate crisis, noting that the topic is politically charged.

Democratic Rep. Andrea Salinas of Oregon pressed Isaacman on that point of view, asking who would decide which science topics are politically charged. She also questioned whether Isaacman would attempt to get involved or issue direction on the types of papers NASA researchers can publish.

“I have not taken any position, directive written or otherwise on what papers we should or shouldn’t publish,” Isaacman replied.

House Dems allege misconduct

The House Democrats behind the new report on Trump’s 2026 budget request allege that prior NASA leadership “acted to reshape the agency in ways that lacked authority and legitimacy but will prove difficult or impossible to reverse.”

And the agency “did so in the dark, frequently without a paper trail, and usually without transparency or even rudimentary notification to Congress,” the report states.

The House report maps out three specific programs that lawmakers say were affected by attempts to unilaterally implement the president’s budget request: the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project, the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) mission, and NASA’s Joint Agency Satellite Division (JASD).

EPFD, which is designed to research hybrid-electric propulsion systems for aircraft, for example, was dismantled immediately after the PBR was issued, only to be partially and haphazardly revived when Congress passed its budget request, the report alleges.

AXIS, a satellite mission that would research black holes, was also dismantled and subsequently canceled because the team meant to work on the project was unable to submit a compliant proposal, according to the document.

The report’s findings specify that the White House 2026 budget request was put forth by the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is currently helmed by Russ Vought.

“How are we going to have confidence that you will adhere to what Congress passes, not what Russ Vought says?” Lofgren asked Isaacman Wednesday.

But Isaacman appeared to defend prior agency leadership, saying it has been a “standing practice at NASA” to adjust to the “prioritization of resources” based on the president’s budget request.

The president’s 2027 budget request does not specify which programs would be shuttered to achieve the budget cuts it maps out. Several lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, asked Isaacman to commit to releasing NASA’s 2027 budget plan within the next 10 days.

Isaacman replied, “you certainly have my commitment.”

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