A Note from COSSA

Friends – As I’m sure you have heard by now, the Trump Administration released its budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2027 last week, which seeks to boost military spending by more than 44 percent by slashing funding for domestic programs. Among the domestic accounts affected are federal science agencies for which, once again, the Administration has put forward budget proposals that would all but hand American science leadership to our global competitors. See the related article below for preliminary details about the budget request. 

There will always be budget proposals by unsupportive Administrations seeking to cut funding for things they don’t view as priorities. But at the end of the day, Congress alone has the power to appropriate funding. In that sense, the FY 2027 budget is dangerous and not surprising, but also not insurmountable. 

However, this year the threat is even more serious, potentially existential for the social and behavioral science community. The budget request states that the National Science Foundation (NSF) plans to dismantle the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate in FY 2027, which itself is alarming. However, recent reports and confidential sources have confirmed that NSF leadership (which is currently “acting” given no permanent NSF Director is in place) will begin the dismantling this year. Such a move raises several red flags and likely violates current statute, not to mention sidesteps Congress’ oversight and funding authority. 

We will have a lot more to say about this development in the days and weeks ahead. For now, know that nothing is more important to COSSA than protecting the social and behavioral science community and the federal agencies that support it. We will be calling for your assistance as we fight these actions, and I hope you will join us.

Finally, COSSA will hold a virtual town hall meeting for member organizations on Tuesday, April 14 at 1:00 pm ET. To allow for as much candor and information sharing as possible, this meeting will be limited to those affiliated with COSSA member organizations (members register here). If you don’t see your organization on COSSA’s current membership list, please be in touch. At this challenging time, we need the community to come together as much as possible.

Thank you in advance for your assistance as we work collectively to ensure a brighter path forward for social and behavioral science research.

With gratitude,

Wendy Naus, Executive Director