A bipartisan group of senators urged the White House on Wednesday to preserve NASA’s science portfolio during a hearing to vet the president’s pick to lead the space agency.
The nomination of Jared Isaacman appears on track to advance in the Senate after a rocky few months that saw President Donald Trump twice change his mind on his candidacy. After tapping Isaacman last year to serve as NASA administrator, Trump rescinded the offer this spring — only to reverse course again last month on Isaacman, a tech billionaire and ally of Elon Musk.
With Isaacman’s nomination looking nearly certain, lawmakers turned their attention to NASA’s science program and the Trump administration’s plans to downsize those efforts. The White House wants to cut NASA’s overall budget by about $6 billion — roughly a quarter of the agency’s $25 billion in annual spending. The plan would slash almost in half its roughly $7 billion science budget.
At a hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, lawmakers from both parties said they expected Congress to fully fund the agency and expressed concern that some of Trump’s proposed cuts — especially to the science division — could prove harmful.
