Common Questions

What does the Senate CJS Subcommittee do for NASA?: The Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee writes NASA's annual budget. Its markup determines what NASA actually receives, regardless of the White House request.
Will Congress restore the NASA science budget?: Senator Jerry Moran, chair of the CJS Subcommittee, said on 13 April 2026 he intends to fund NASA at roughly FY2026 levels and has scheduled a hearing with Administrator Isaacman.Source: Space Symposium, Colorado Springs, 13 April 2026
What is the FY2027 NASA budget proposal?: The White House requested .8 billion for FY2027, down from .438 billion in FY2026, with a 47% cut to the Science Mission Directorate cancelling or delaying 40+ missions.Source: event
When is the Senate hearing with Jared Isaacman?: Moran confirmed a hearing has been scheduled but did not give a date as of 13 April 2026.Source: Space Symposium statement

Background

The Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Subcommittee is the body in the US Congress that writes NASA's annual budget. On 13 April 2026, its chairman Senator Jerry Moran publicly rejected the White House's FY2027 request, calling proposed cuts to NASA Science "a mistake" and pledging to fund the agency at roughly FY2026 levels. Moran also confirmed his subcommittee has scheduled a hearing with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, the first formal confrontation between Congress and the 47% cut to the Science Mission Directorate that Isaacman endorsed on 7 April .

The CJS Subcommittee is one of twelve subcommittees of the full Senate Appropriations Committee. It holds jurisdiction over the Commerce and Justice departments as well as NASA, making it the gatekeeper for the agency's funding. The White House FY2027 request of .8 billion represents a 26% overall cut to NASA, but the subcommittee faces a more Stark arithmetic: the Science Mission Directorate alone would fall from .3 billion to roughly .9 billion, cancelling or delaying more than 40 planetary science, astrophysics, and Earth observation missions .

The subcommittee's FY2027 markup, expected in spring or summer, will determine whether the White House's proposed cuts survive or are substantially reversed. A 13 March letter from more than 100 House members demanding billion for NASA Science signals cross-chamber resistance, but appropriations authority rests in subcommittees like Moran's. The scheduled hearing is the first venue where Isaacman must publicly reconcile his endorsement of cuts with the views of a Republican appropriator who does not intend to pass them.

How the World Sees Them

Moran signals intent to restore funding, placing him at odds with his own party's White House request.

Relies on CJS Subcommittee markup to reverse mission cancellations; Moran's statement is the most concrete protection yet.

Isaacman publicly endorsed the same cuts Moran opposes; the scheduled hearing is the first moment he must reconcile those positions.