TL;DR: While science funding has been under attack from the current US administration since it came into power, there’s still time to fight the most significant cuts. Come to a town hall meeting in Ramo Auditorium with US Congresswoman Judy Chu on Friday, July 18th at 2:30 pm to share your stories and fight for funding for your science.
Since being sworn in, the Trump administration has used executive orders to slash staff, withhold funds, and cancel existing grants issued by federal institutions. California universities have lost $183 million in NSF funding due to these executive-level cuts, including proposed caps on overhead (which Caltech has already taken steps to fight) and direct grant cancellations. The initial round of cuts in the federal government has also meant that there are fewer employees to process new grant requests and handle other administrative functions, potentially slowing down the ability to obtain new funds.
However, the largest attacks on science funding are still being formulated. The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ which recently passed both the House and Senate destroyed many other valuable programs, but did not include specific cuts to science funding. Instead, these cuts will come through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget. This budget has not passed yet, but the process for passing it is underway in the House and Senate. Trump has asked Congress for $27 billion in proposed NIH cuts and $3.9 billion in NSF cuts, but these numbers will change as Congress comes up with its own proposals, and will not be law until the budget passes, which will likely be in September 2025. This means there is still time to fight these cuts.
Congresswoman Judy Chu, the House representative for the Pasadena area, will be meeting with Caltech and JPL community members this Friday at 2:30 pm. Rep. Chu is a member of the House Budget Committee, and has been a staunch defender of science funding in the past. We will be sharing stories of how cuts to science funding have already affected us directly, and asking Rep. Chu to read these stories on the House floor as she continues to fight for science. Showing up in large numbers will show Rep. Chu how important this issue is to us. RSVP to attend the event here.
UAW Local 2478 Citizenship and Legislative Committee