On May 30, the Trump Administration began releasing more, albeit incomplete, details regarding federal agencies’ budget requests for Fiscal Year 2026. The details could not come a moment too soon given the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have been holding hearings for weeks, and the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Tom Cole (R-OK-4), has announced a schedule for considering or “marking up” all 12 of the funding bills this summer. The bills that support most of the federal agencies essential to the population sciences (Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill and Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill) are scheduled for consideration in the House starting early July. As of mid-June, the Senate Appropriations Committee had not released a mark up schedule.
Unfortunately, the release of the Administration’s incomplete budget details has done little to assuage stakeholders’ concerns regarding the FY 2026 funding prospects for federal scientific research and statistical agencies. In fact, the President’s budget request has raised the stakes, alarming the stakeholder community by proposing drastic funding reductions for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) in particular and recommending dramatic reorganizations of agencies, including the NIH and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Fortunately, Congress never fully accepts the President’s budget request, but congressional champions, and the stakeholders that support these agencies, will have their work cut out for them as the FY 2026 appropriations process proceeds.
National Institutes of Health
The FY26 HHS Budget in Brief document is premised on the assumption that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be massively reorganized. This document assumes the creation of a new HHS Office of Strategy, which would include combining some parts of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), along with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office of Research Integrity formerly in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). The document also recommends dramatic changes to the NIH, most notably combining the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to create a new National Institute for Child and Women’s Health, Sensory Disorders, and Communication.
With respect to funding, the President’s request would provide NIH with a total of nearly $27.5 billion, which is approximately an $18 billion cut compared to the agency’s FY 2025 enacted level. Details accompanying the budget confirm that if enacted, NICHD, in its new configuration, would support hundreds of fewer non-competing and competing awards across all funding mechanisms in FY 2026 as compared to FY 2025. While the National Institute on Aging (NIA) remains an independent Institute in the president’s budget, it is slated to receive approximately $2.7 billion in FY 2026, which is about $1.8 billion below the Institute’s FY 2025 funding level.
Coalitions that PAA belongs to, such as the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research and Coalition for Health Funding, issued statements expressing concern and outright opposition to the President’s proposed funding recommendations. PAA, along with the Association of Population Centers (APC), has also signed several letters spearheaded by these and other coalitions decrying the Administration’s NIH request. These letters are shared in the PAA This Week newsletter.
In related news, on June 9, NIH staff penned an open letter to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., titled “The Bethesda Declaration: A call for NIH and HHS Leadership to Deliver on Promises of Academic Freedom and Scientific Excellence.” The letter states that “Keeping NIH at the forefront of biomedical research requires our stalwart commitment to continuous improvement,” and adds that “[staff] are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources.” The letter urges Dr. Bhattacharya to “restore grants delayed or terminated for political reasons so that life-saving research can continue.” Stand Up for Science is sponsoring an open letter for interested individuals to sign in support of the Bethesda Declaration.
National Science Foundation
As reported by the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA), President Trump’s budget targets the National Science Foundation (NSF) providing it $3.9 billion in FY 2026, which represents a 57 percent or $5.2 billion cut to their budget as compared to its FY 2025 funding level. This proposal comes after NSF terminated hundreds of grants and the resignation of NSF Director, Sethuraman Panchanathan. The budget recommends providing the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Directorate, including the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, with $94 million, which represents a 67.6% cut as compared to the FY 2025 funding level.
On May 3, a group of former NSF Directors and former Chairs of the National Science Board sent a letter to Congressional Appropriators criticizing the President’s FY 2026 budget request for NSF, especially in light of the scientific priorities laid out in a memo the President sent to his Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Michael Kratsios. The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), which PAA and APC are members, also issued a statement, opposing the proposed “deep cuts” to the NSF budget.
Statistical Agencies
As of mid-June, the statistical research community was still awaiting detailed information regarding the budget requests for several statistical agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau. As reported by The Census Project, on May 30, the Administration released additional details regarding the Bureau’s FY 2026 budget request. Specifically, the Administration released its topline numbers, indicating that it is requesting $1,676.5 billion for the Census Bureau in FY 2026. The amount includes $1.388 billion for Periodic Censuses and Programs and $288.5 million for Current Surveys and Programs, the two main Bureau accounts. The total would be a $294 million increase from the agency’s FY 2025 funding level of $1.3825 billion. However, because the numbers were not yet accompanied by any narrative, known as the Congressional Justification, it is not apparent how the Administration proposes allocating these funds and what their spending priorities are in FY 2026.
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), another statistical agency essential to supporting the population sciences, is slated to receive $175 million in the President’s budget—an amount that is approximately $12.4 million below the agency’s FY 2025 funding level. As noted earlier, however, the President’s budget would move NCHS out of its current parent agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, into a new HHS Office of Strategy. The budget claims this new office will house “programs and policies for a healthier America.”
Another major item in the President’s request for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a proposed reorganization that would merge the BLS, the Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Department of Commerce, under the policy direction of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs. According to the request, “this reorganization proposal aims to leverage data collection and analysis synergies, increase cost effectiveness, improve data quality, and reduce respondent burden.” In addition, the President’s budget requests $647.9 million for the BLS, which represents an 8% decrease as compared to the agency’s FY 2025 funding level.
Overall, PAA and APC strongly oppose the drastic spending reductions, especially those recommended for the NIH and NSF, outlined in the President’s FY 2026 budget request. While PAA and APC are open to potential agency restructuring proposals, administrative and legal changes of this magnitude should not occur without relevant congressional oversight committees holding hearings and Congress passing necessary reauthorization legislation. Further, affected stakeholders should have the opportunity to comment on the implications of these reorganization proposals.
The PAA/APC Office of Government Affairs will be issuing action alerts in response to the FY 2026 budget request, so please respond when you receive these important messages and continue to follow updates in the PAA This Week newsletter on Tuesdays.
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