{"id":124,"date":"2026-05-11T22:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=124"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:34:14","slug":"scientists-press-congress-on-trumps-dismissal-of-funding-agency-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=124","title":{"rendered":"Scientists press Congress on Trump&#8217;s dismissal of funding agency board"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>WASHINGTON \u2014 More than 2,500 scientists said in a letter to Congress on Monday that President Trump\u2019s dismissal of the National Science Foundation\u2019s oversight board was an \u201calarming attack\u201d on research funding that could put the United States at a disadvantage with rivals, especially China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=122\">Black people won a voice in this county. The Voting Rights case may silence it.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe stand with the National Science Board, and call on Congress, as an equal branch of government, to rapidly and firmly support science by calling for the reinstatement of terminated National Science Board members,\u201d the signatories wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a separate letter last month, more than a dozen former leaders of the foundation urged the White House and Congress to quickly fill the leadership vacuum Trump created at the agency. Established in 1950, the agency has been responsible for annually distributing about $9 billion in research grants in recent years. That money funds much of the public science research in the United States, from artificial intelligence to astronomy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>The former board members have been trying to call attention to what they say is a growing research funding gap with China. Last week, the NSF published the board\u2019s 2026 report on the state of US science and engineering, which the board had finalized before its dismissal. In the report, the board warned that China had overtaken the United States in research and development expenditures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That gap is likely to grow as science funding under the Trump administration is at a low point.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As of May 1, the agency has committed 10 percent of its congressionally appropriated funds, roughly half of what the foundation had awarded by this point in previous fiscal years, according to Grant Witness, which tracks scientific grants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A White House spokesperson justified the decision to fire the board by pointing to a 2021 Supreme Court decision about the governance structure at another government agency. The spokesperson added that the NSF was delivering on Trump\u2019s pledge to cement America\u2019s technological and innovative dominance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Former agency board members, however, voiced concerns about the foundation\u2019s ability to fulfill its mission. The dismissal of the board and the yearlong vacancy of the role of foundation director has left the agency \u201cin a very precarious position,\u201d said Yolanda Gil, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California and former board member.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Four people formerly on the board date the deterioration of its relationship with the administration to April 2025, when the NSF canceled hundreds of active research grants without consulting any board members. Shortly thereafter, the foundation\u2019s director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, announced his resignation; another board member, Alondra Nelson, resigned a few weeks later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nelson, a social science professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, said that she had seen the writing on the wall. \u201cIt was so clear that our work was going to be compromised,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Another former board member said the administration had left scientists in the dark on its plans. \u201cIt almost didn\u2019t matter what question we asked, the answer would almost come back exactly the same, and it would always be along the lines of, \u2018That\u2019s an active conversation with the administration,\u2019\u201d said Keivan Stassun, a physics and astronomy professor at Vanderbilt University. \u201cA lot of euphemism, but no actual answers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=120\">Maine\u2019s Susan Collins reveals she\u2019s long been diagnosed with a benign tremor<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>With limits on its ability to conduct oversight, the board turned to its responsibility of advising Congress on science policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Last May, the White House released a budget request for the 2026 fiscal year that proposed slashing the NSF\u2019s funding by more than half, but board members advised Congress to maintain similar funding levels as in previous years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Divided into small groups, board members told lawmakers of both parties about the importance of funding science research, raised the specter of China\u2019s growing scientific output, and discussed how new technology could help modernize the NSF.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the end, Congress appropriated $8.75 billion to the research funding agency, a modest cut from the $9.1 billion in fiscal year 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Last month, Trump released his budget plan for the 2027 fiscal year, again calling for significant NSF cuts. This time, the White House requested about $4.9 billion for the agency, a more than 40 percent cut.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In the proposal, the administration also said it wanted the NSF to fund a $900 million project to build an ice-breaking vessel. Arctic cutters are a priority for this administration, and last October, Trump signed a memorandum directing the Coast Guard to build four Arctic Security Cutters in Finland. As of February, the Coast Guard awarded contracts for 11 ships. It is unclear if there is any connection between the Coast Guard\u2019s vessels and the one Trump has proposed that the NSF fund.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For the former board members, who were nominally responsible for approving major NSF programs like the Arctic vessel venture, the proposal came as a surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt just sort of appeared in the president\u2019s budget request,\u201d said Stassun, who led the board\u2019s subcommittee on funding larger facilities and projects. \u201cIt had not gone through any of the normal processes,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But before board members could discuss the shipbuilding proposal or begin advising Congress on funding levels for the NSF, they were dismissed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=119\">Trump nominates Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA, a year after he was fired from the role<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>This article originally appeared in The New York Times.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 2,500 scientists said in a letter to Congress that Trump\u2019s dismissal of the National Science Foundation\u2019s oversight board was an \u201calarming attack\u201d on research funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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