Reps. Chu, Bacon Lead Colleagues Requesting Top Appropriators Include Robust NASA Science Funding in Upcoming Government Spending Package

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Reps. Judy Chu (CA-28) and Don Bacon (NE-02) led a bipartisan letteryesterday to Appropriations Committee leaders in both the House and Senate, urging them to prevent erosion of U.S. leadership in space exploration and science by including $26.8 billion for NASA's topline budget and at least $7.8812 billion for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in any final funding package for FY2025. The letter was co-signed by 20 other Members of Congress and endorsed by the Planetary Society.

"NASA is currently tasked with the ambitious goals of advancing human knowledge of Earth and other worlds, returning curated samples from Mars, searching for signs of life with next generation space telescopes, and returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time in over half a century. However, cuts to federal spending enacted last year are the most severe of several consecutive years of decreasing budgets for NASA and space science, totaling a $1 billion loss in buying power relative to the peak funding year of FY 2020," wrote the lawmakers.

Should this trend of underfunding persist, NASA Science will face severe budget shortfalls leading to delayed, scaled-back, or canceled missions and the continued shrinking of investments in critical infrastructure, workforce, and technology development. Even with the modest increase in NASA funding within the President's FY2025 Budget Request, it's predicted NASA would lose up to 800 skilled civil servants in the next year, adding to the hundreds of agency staff and contractor jobs already lost at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center, two distinguished NASA Centers for space science. This would deprive the scientific community and the larger space workforce of expertise we cannot easily rebuild. Meanwhile, while the U.S. anticipates these budgetary shortfalls, China, India, and Europe have increased their space budgets by up to 10% annually and expanded their space exploration programs.

"Congress has the responsibility-and the opportunity-to restore federal funding and ensure that NASA and its commercial partners have sufficient resources to meet national priorities, safeguard our scientific progress, maintain our world-class workforce, and expand our understanding of the Universe and Earth's place within it," continued the lawmakers. "An increased investment in NASA will protect its critical missions, foster STEM education and innovation, and secure America's position as a global leader in space and science."

Click here for the full text of the letter.