Key Takeaways:
Amid a looming government shutdown, NASA’s future hinges on whether Congress can pass a stopgap funding measure with protective language for the agency.
On Wednesday, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) moved to permanently axe federal employees — breaking from the precedent of issuing temporary furloughs — in the event of a shutdown. In a memo, OMB directed agencies to draft reductions in force (RIFs) for programs, projects, or activities that would lose discretionary funding on October 1, the start of fiscal year 2026 (FY26) and the deadline to fund the government.
If Congress is unable to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund NASA through November 21, RIFs could begin to take effect. They could result in the elimination of employees working on activities “not consistent with the President’s priorities,” per the OMB memo.
What’s at stake for NASA
President Donald Trump has touted a renewed focus on Mars exploration, with the President’s Budget Request (PBR) for FY26 increasing funding for human space exploration missions by nearly $650 million. About $1 billion would be allocated to “Mars-focused programs.”
At the same time, the PBR cuts funding to science missions by 47 percent — a move widely decried by NASA’s supporters. The Mars Society, for instance, said a pivot away from science is antithetical to efforts to land humans on the Red Planet. More than 280 current and former NASA personnel have formally dissented to the budget.
The PBR calls to reduce NASA’s top-line funding by nearly 25 percent — which would represent the largest single-year cut in the agency’s history — and trim its workforce by nearly one-third. That would leave the space agency with less than 12,000 employees, its lowest staffing level since the Apollo era.
“Once fiscal year 2026 appropriations are enacted, agencies should revise their RIFs as needed to retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions,” the memo reads.
Opposition grows
“The Trump administration continues to use public servants as pawns in their game to distract and destroy our federal agencies,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) in a statement Thursday.
“This threat of further reductions in force is shortsighted and stupid. The government can’t be run like a deal-making game show — people behind critical agency efforts provide services that benefit all Americans.”
Lofgren is not the only lawmaker opposed to the OMB’s efforts to cull personnel.
A CR proposed by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) would keep the government open through November 21. The bill is described as “clean,” meaning it would simply extend current funding levels. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) is pushing for any CR to include an “anomaly” that would counter OMB’s pledge to enact the PBR on October 1.
A coalition including The Planetary Society, Mars Society, and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) — one of two unions representing more than half of NASA’s civil servants—sent a letter to congressional appropriators earlier this month supporting an anomaly in the CR.
“Congress has already made its intent clear: it rejects these reckless cuts and supports continued investment in NASA science,” Jack Kiraly, director of government relations for The Planetary Society, said in a statement. “Without language in the CR, OMB could override that intent, shutting down missions mid-stream, wasting taxpayer dollars, and undermining U.S. leadership in space exploration. Congress must act now to prevent irreversible harm.”
The Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittees of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, meanwhile, have passed full-year funding bills that would keep NASA’s funding in line with previous years. Lawmakers also pushed for an amendment in Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” that would maintain NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion programs through 2032. The PBR would have phased out both vehicles following the Artemis III mission, planned for mid-2027.
With funding, personnel working on those programs could be protected. Still, NASA anticipates its workforce shrinking to about 14,000 by January 26 due to more than 3,800 departures from a pair of voluntary deferred resignation programs (DRPs) offered in January and June.
Personnel that took the DRPs — which were offered to nearly all federal employees — agreed to vacate their positions in exchange for a few months of pay and benefits. But to achieve the workforce reductions outlined in the PBR, more than 2,000 additional employees could be laid off.
At the same time, the White House is clamping down on workers’ collective bargaining rights. An executive order earlier this month redefined NASA as an agency with “intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work” as its primary function, excluding it from the Federal Service Labor Management Statute.
In essence, that means the agency will no longer negotiate with unions such as IFPTE or the American Federation of Government Employees. Directors of NASA centers, including Johnson Space Center and Goddard Space Flight Center, have told workers they will terminate contracts with labor unions to comply with the order, per NASAWatch.
Center union leaders, meanwhile, have offered employees words of support and vowed to fight the order in court. Earlier this month, several union leaders joined members of Congress to protest outside NASA headquarters.
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Editor’s note: This story first appeared on FLYING.
