NASA typically complies with guidance from Congress since it receives its budget from Congress. (Really, you do not want to bite the hand that feeds.) However, this year’s process is not expected to be normal, and there is no legal requirement for NASA (or other federal agencies) to consider congressional feedback on their operating plans.
This year, in fact, the Office of Management and Budget has even stopped NASA from submitting operational plans to Congress.
“This is yet another bad faith move by the administration, which seems hell-bent on attacking science and the future of American innovation,” said Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.), who previously served as NASA’s chief of staff. “To go around Congress, and the committee of jurisdiction that I sit on, to enact their radical agenda that will make us less safe, less competitive, and less able to respond to threats is not only dangerous, it will cede all ground to our adversaries like China.”
Will the last planetary scientist please turn out the lights?
How will this play out?
There are multiple strategies, and some of them are likely to end up in court fights. Philosophically, Vought believes strongly that the president should have more authority to direct federal spending. And he appears likely to try to force the issue this year. Using tactics such as recission—essentially ordering federal agencies to freeze spending—and impoundment, Vought will seek to implement the priorities in the president’s budget request, which his office wrote.
Beginning October 1, without a fiscal year 2026 budget in place, NASA may be directed to start following the closeout plans submitted this month by principal investigators and turning missions off. That means the lights go out at Jupiter, telescopes stop gathering data across the Solar System, and so on for dozens of missions.
And once those missions are gone, they’re almost impossible to bring back—even if Congress were inclined to restore funding months later with a new budget.
“If there’s not much hope to restart a mission, the people who are managing Juno, New Horizons, and other missions are going to be looking for their next job,” Green said. “They’re going to be gone. Within a few months, you won’t be able to get the expertise back. And without the expertise, you don’t have the ability to run the mission safely.”
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