Top Science Democrat probes cuts to research spending at National Science Foundation

A key Democrat is looking into a massive amount of money that was appropriated to the National Science Foundation (NSF) but reportedly not spent.

In a letter first shared with The Hill, House Committee on Science, Space and Technology ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) accused the foundation of violating “Congress’ power of the purse and the rightful separation of powers in our constitutional system” after a report that 20 percent of its research budget went unspent in fiscal 2026.

Lofgren’s letter follows up on a New York Times report saying that the NSF withheld $1.4 billion appropriated by Congress for research. The Times reported, citing two people, that the Trump administration wants to redirect the money to priorities including AI and quantum computing.

The congresswoman also said NSF employees had told her staff the agency planned to spend the money that she later learned was repurposed.

“The agency told Committee Staff that it was behind schedule because of late appropriations, but that it had every intention of catching up on award-making by the end of the fiscal year,” she wrote.

“Subsequent reporting conveyed that NSF did not intend to distribute its full research budget to researchers across the country, but rather intended to divert a significant portion of its funding to advance unknown Trump Administration priorities,” she added. “For months, the most reliable source of information regarding NSF’s intentions for its research budget was the press, rather than the agency and the administration officials testifying about it before Congress.”

Lofgren, in her letter this week, asked the independent agency a series of questions including whether it intends to spend the money, how it is managing the funds and whether it received any direction from the White House.

While she holds limited investigative power now with Democrats in the minority, Lofgren stands to gain significant authorities, which she could use to further probe the issue, if her party takes back the House following next week’s midterms.

Democratic committee staff told The Hill that the oversight work they have been doing will continue into the next Congress.

A spokesperson for the science foundation said via email that it is “in receipt of the letter and will respond to Rep. Lofgren directly.”

As for the funding, the spokesperson said the agency “has carried over funds to invest in agency priorities that are aligned with broader Administration initiatives.”

“These funds have two-year availability under appropriations law and will be spent consistent with NSF’s congressional FY26 spending plan,” the person added. “NSF remains committed to investing in meritorious foundational research across the sciences and engineering that advances American scientific leadership.”

NSF is an independent agency that supports scientific research, primarily through grant funding. It supplies about a quarter of the federal support for research at U.S. universities.

Last year, anonymous staffers alleged that at the agency, “a covert and ideologically driven secondary review process by unqualified political appointees is now interfering with the scientific merit-based review system.”