Pushes back

Top GOP lawmaker pushes back on NASA’s budget cuts

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said it would be a “mistake” to fund exploration while gutting funding for science missions.

By Audrey Decker

A key Republican in charge of funding NASA opposes Trump administration plans to slash the agency’s budget — and signaled that lawmakers plan to reverse those cuts in annual appropriations.

The White House released a budget framework earlier this month that would cut the agency’s current 2026 spending by 23 percent, axing science missions while maintaining funding for its moon landing efforts.

But it would be a “mistake” to fund exploration while gutting funding for science missions, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said Sunday on the sidelines of the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Moran said he would try to fund NASA at a similar level to 2026. Last year, the Trump administration also tried to gut NASA’s science programs, but Congress reversed those cuts and handed the agency a $24.4 billion budget in 2026.

“I’m going to try to lead the subcommittee and the whole committee to put us in a position where we are funding NASA, NOAA and our other agencies in a way that is pretty similar to what we did last year,” said Moran, who serves at the chair of the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee which oversees NASA.

The 2027 budget request came just weeks after NASA administrator Jared Isaacman unveiled ambitious plans for the agency — including a $30 billion outpost on the moon.

But Moran said NASA may need a budget boost to fund all of Isaacman’s ambitions.

“One would think if you’re doing things faster and doing big things faster, it would require more resources… I’m open to the conversation about the needed resources, and then make the attempt to achieve that goal,” Moran said.

Moran’s comments came after a roundtable with officials from industry, NASA and Space Force, who lauded the massive increase in military space funding in the 2027 budget, while largely avoiding talking about the proposed cuts to NASA.

Isaacman has since defended the 2027 budget request, and said in a note to employees viewed by POLITICO that the “requested funding levels are sufficient for NASA to meet the nation’s high expectations and deliver on all mission priorities.”

The budget request isn’t “wrong in every way,” Moran said, but he cautioned against “the premise that exploration is the only important aspect.”

Moran’s subcommittee is waiting for more details after receiving NASA’s “skinny budget” and said they don’t have a schedule yet for constructing the CJS appropriations bill. Moran said there is a budget hearing scheduled with Isaacman, but didn’t give a specific date.