Gil on the Hill February 2026 – Appropriations: Signed, Sealed… Will It Be Delivered?
Implementation Season
January saw us watching whether the government would fund science. February has been about how that funding will be distributed, regulated, and contested.
Appropriations are (mostly) done. The shutdown clock has (mostly) stopped ticking. Congress, federal agencies, and the states are quietly settling into regular business for the year.
Let’s see what’s been going on.
Appropriations: Signed, Sealed… Will It Be Delivered?
As we’ve been tracking together, on January 23, the President signed into law the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act (H.R. 6938), locking in funding for core science accounts at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and related agencies.
One week later, the Senate passed a bipartisan spending package funding most remaining agencies, including Defense, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education, through September, while providing only a two-week stopgap for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). That deadline has since come and gone, leaving DHS with lapsed funding and technically a partial government shutdown. With political ire as high as ever around Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and high-profile incidents involving the deaths of U.S. citizens, it’s safe to assume we will not reach agreement on that front any time soon.
So, we avoided the shutdown cliff (mostly), but careful scrutiny about how (and how much) federal funding will be spent is the real point of contention now. Congress gives the money and the Administration is supposed to spend it. This has always been a given, but right now anyone with an interest in how federal funding is spent should be paying attention to the receipts coming in from the Administration.
For the science enterprise, a key takeaway is that topline federal funding stability comes bundled with increased reporting, compliance, and political scrutiny, but those measures still need to be tested outside of the confines of bill text and in the real world that Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought operates in.
Congress Gets Busy
We saw Congressional science committees active with oversight as well as moving legislation.
NIH Modernization
The Senate HELP Committee held a full committee hearing titled “Modernizing the National Institutes of Health: Faster Discoveries, More Cures.” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya testified amid broader institutional transition, including the prospects of delinking NIH research facility support from research projects in an effort to change up the geographic and institutional concentration of NIH funding.
At the same time:
- NIH lost another institute director. Of 27 institutes and centers at NIH, 16 are missing a director.
- Bhattacharya may be tapped to lead CDC.
Research Security Pressure
The House Science, Space and Technology (SST) Committee has been active:
- Leaders requested answers from DOE, EPA, NASA, NOAA, and NSF about foreign-backed “paper mills.”
- The Select Committee on China sent letters to NASA and the FBI regarding CCP-linked research collaboration.
- Science Democrats raised concerns about potential NIST policy changes affecting foreign researchers.
Research security and foreign research collaboration remain central congressional pressure points and continue to see legislative activity.
AI Policy Highlights
- A GAO review of federal and state AI regulations was requested by House SST Committee leadership.
- The House SST Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing: “Powering America’s AI Future: Assessing Policy Options to Increase Data Center Infrastructure.”
Bipartisan Bright Spots for Science Bills
Three bipartisan House SST Committee bills passed the House under suspension:
- ACERO Act (H.R. 390) – Directs NASA to improve aerial wildfire response using advanced aircraft and real-time data.
- Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act (H.R. 3679) – Directs NIST to develop AI resources for small businesses.
- ASCEND Act (H.R. 2600) – Establishes a commercial satellite data acquisition program within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
These are pragmatic, application-driven bills that harness science and evidence-based policy to address difficult challenges. We love to celebrate bipartisan collaboration on science over here at FAS.
Exec Branch Watch
Tariffs!
President Trump’s new 10% global tariffs are kicking in as the Supreme Court’s ruling invalidates his most sweeping duties. The president threatened to raise the levy to 15% on certain countries “where appropriate.”
EPA and the GHG Endangerment Finding
The Environmental Protection Agency announced what it described as the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history, eliminating the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. Legal challenges are already on the way. FAS happened to launch the Center for Regulatory Ingenuity (the same day) which aims to address systemic regulatory challenges such as this.
NSF Workforce RFI
The National Science Foundation issued an RFI: “Investing in U.S. Workforce Training and Innovation to Advance the President’s Trade Agreements and Ensure America’s Energy Dominance.”
NSF: Quantum and Agriculture
NSF launched a $100M National Quantum and Nanotechnology Research Infrastructure program. It also announced first awards under AI-ENGAGE, modernizing agriculture via AI systems.
OPM Civil Service Rule
The Office of Personnel Management finalized a rule creating Schedule Policy/Career, a new category for certain career federal positions they deem as “policy-influencing.” Read the FAS analysis.
Space, Satellites, and AI Infrastructure
The Federal Communications Commission accepted for filing SpaceX’s application for orbital data centers. There remain concerns in the astronomy community over satellite proliferation impacts.
Ta Ta for Now
“Structural reform” is the theme reverberating throughout Congress, the White House and the S&T ecosystem right now. The relationship between the executive branch and Congress is being tested in unprecedented ways as we all witness the “impoundment” fight play out in real time. Federal agencies are ramping up activities that are questioning longheld assumptions of how science is conducted in America. Science policymakers are thinking big about the future of science and opportunities for good-faith reforms.
If it’s all successful and carefully thought out, then it could be a welcomed and overdue evolution that stands to benefit the public significantly. However, it’s easy to be skeptical. And if it is indeed successful, will the systems we’re building be durable enough to survive the next political turn?
Onward.
January brought a jolt of game-changing national political events and government funding brinksmanship. If Washington, D.C.’s new year resolution was for less drama in 2026, it’s failed already.
We came out of the longest shutdown in history and we are all worse for it. Who won the shutdown fight? It doesn’t matter – Americans lost. And there is a chance we run it all back again in a few short months.