Planetary Science Caucus Co-Chairs Chu & Bacon Statement on White House’s Proposed Budget Cuts to NASA Science

WASHINGTON - Last week, President Trump's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Administration's Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget request, which proposes to cut NASA's overall budget by 23% and cut NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) by 47%. This request would also terminate more than 40 space missions, including the Mars Sample Return mission led by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a first-of-its-kind mission to return samples from Mars to Earth and unlock groundbreaking insights into the planet's history and the potential for past life.

Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28) and Don Bacon (NE-02), who co-Chair the bipartisan Congressional Planetary Science Caucus, released the following joint statement in response:

"We are deeply alarmed that the Administration is once again proposing significant budget cuts to NASA and its science programs. NASA Science supports thousands of jobs and is essential to U.S. national security and leadership in space exploration, scientific discovery, and technological innovation. These drastic cuts would create enormous chaos and uncertainty for critical missions, the scientific workforce, and long-term research planning. At the same time, current funding for NASA Science has not kept pace with inflation, underscoring the need for more investment, not less. That is why, just weeks ago, we led over 100 bipartisan House Members in a letter to appropriators urging increased funding for NASA Science, and we will continue working on a bipartisan basis to ensure NASA receives the full, sustained funding it needs to lead the world in discovery and exploration."