Summer Advocacy: Contact Your Senators Now Regarding the FY 2027 NSF Budget

There are key steps in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 appropriations process where MAA advocates must continue to communicate policy priorities to Congress. This is not a “one and done” process. We need you to reconnect now with your US Senators whether or not you earlier made contact on the NSF budget request. Please use the background information below and linked to guide your contact in the coming weeks.

Earlier in May, the US House Appropriations Committee acted on its version of the FY 2027 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill that includes recommendations for NSF funding levels and program emphasis. While the House Committee rejected the Administration’s over 50% reduction in NSF funding from the FY 2026 level, the Committee did recommend an approximately 20% reduction from $8.75 billion to $7 billion. At the same time, the House Committee included an important provision encouraging NSF to increase awards to STEM fields to develop new curricula addressing AI impacts as MAA advocates have proposed.

Now our advocacy focus turns back to the Senate Appropriations Committee as it prepares to make its recommendations on the same appropriations bill. Last year we saw a significant improvement in the Senate version of FY 2026 funding for NSF over the House’s level and we are working hard to achieve that result again this year so that the final level is as robust as possible. Please contact your US Senators now using the draft email that is linked here. If you do not already have an email address for your Senators or their staff contacts, you can look them up using this website: https://www.senate.gov/.

Please feel free to identify MAA as your member organization in these advocacy efforts. Contact maahq@maa.org with any questions. Thank you for your commitment to the MAA advocacy campaign.