Key NASA Appropriator Rebukes White House 2027 Budget Plan

COLORADO SPRINGS—A key NASA appropriator intends to lobby fellow legislators to fund NASA at its current level, clawing back a proposed 24% budget cut for fiscal 2027 from the Trump administration.

“I don’t know about significant increases in any particular thing—perhaps in defense—but when it comes to the [commerce, justice, science and related agencies] realm ... I’m going to try to lead a subcommittee and a full committee to put us in a position where we are funding NASA, NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] and our other agencies in a way that is pretty similar to what we did last year,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) told reporters April 12 ahead of the opening of the 41st annual Space Symposium here.

Moran serves as chairman on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, including NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Moran said he would like to “increase in places that we think are more important, and if we have to, to cut places that we think are less important, but not to have dramatic reductions in spending in those three primary areas,” he added, referring to NASA, NOAA, and NSF.

The White House on April 3 released its NASA spending plan for the year beginning Oct. 1. It devotes about half of a proposed $19 billion budget to the Artemis lunar exploration initiative, at the expense of science, aeronautics, and technology initiatives unrelated to the Artemis campaign. The budget is similar to what the Trump administration requested for fiscal 2026, which was rejected by Congress. Instead, the agency was funded at about $24 billion.

When asked directly if he wanted to maintain that level of funding for fiscal 2027, Moran replied, “That is my hope.

“It would be a mistake to put money only in the mission related to exploration and not into science,” he added.