Bipartisan Congressional Opposition to NASA FY2027 Budget Cut Intensifies — House Science Committee Hearing

In the weeks following the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) Subcommittee hearing on April 29, 2026 — where Chairman Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) both declared the White House's $18.8 billion FY2027 NASA request insufficient — the House Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearing with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on the agency's FY2027 budget request and its revised Artemis architecture. The bipartisan resistance mirrors patterns from FY2026 when Congress gave NASA $24.4 billion after a similar executive proposal was made. The proposed FY2027 budget represents a 23% overall cut and a 47% reduction to NASA's science programs — the latter drawing the sharpest Congressional opposition, with members arguing that cutting science programs after Artemis II's historic success sends contradictory signals. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) used her April 29 Senate CJS testimony to praise Artemis II's success while securing a commitment from Isaacman on nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) research funding — a key priority for eventual Mars missions. The House appropriations process, which ran parallel to the Senate CJS hearing, signals that the full $18.8B request is unlikely to survive Congressional markup, with the pattern from prior years suggesting Congress will restore the proposed cuts substantially. Isaacman defended the pivot away from Gateway to a $20B, 7-year lunar surface base program and the cancellation of the SLS Exploration Upper Stage, while affirming NASA's commitment to the 2028 Artemis IV crewed lunar landing target.