NASA budget escapes major cuts under Trump
WASHINGTON — Space exploration was left relatively unscathed when President Donald Trump released his first budget request in March — especially when compared with other science and technology programs.
The National Institutes of Health, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change initiatives and energy research were all significantly cut in the budget outline, but NASA funding barely received a scratch with a $19.1 billion line item for fiscal 2018.
That proposed 0.8 percent reduction compared to fiscal 2017 annualized levels is a much smaller decrease than the proposed changes to the other science programs, some of which are facing up to an 18 percent loss of federal funding.
When compared with former President Barack Obama’s last budget request, which asked Congress to appropriate $18.3 billion during fiscal 2017, the Trump request actually represents an $800 million increase.
So, then, why?
A simple answer is that NASA enjoys strong support from key Republican appropriators as well as GOP congressional leadership, even if Trump has not said much in the past about the space agency.
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told CQ Roll Call that while Trump gave few indications before being sworn in that he would become a strong advocate for NASA, its support among congressional Republicans and the location of its facilities in GOP-held areas may have played a role in keeping its funding safe.
“I don’t know whether it’s Trump’s personal preference ... or whether it’s because NASA is strongly defended by many Republicans,” Edwards said when asked why programs such as the NIH, which also has broad GOP support, were cut far more than NASA. “A lot of the NASA facilities are in Republican states and districts — Texas, Alabama and elsewhere.”