1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose the proposed $6 billion cut to NASA's budget and instead support robust funding for NASA's science missions. The Trump administration's 2026 budget proposal offers just $18.8 billion for NASA, down from $24.8 billion in 2025. This reduction threatens American leadership in space exploration at precisely the moment when international competitors are surging ahead. The European Space Agency just approved a record-breaking budget of 22.1 billion Euros ($25.63 billion) for 2026-2028, an increase of more than 5 billion Euros from their previous period. ESA's science missions alone received 3.787 billion Euros ($4.39 billion), marking their first increase in years. Meanwhile, proposed NASA cuts jeopardize nineteen ESA science missions that depend on American partnership, including the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna gravitational wave observatory, Venus orbiter EnVision, and X-ray telescope New Athena. ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell estimates ESA would need an additional 900 million Euros over ten years to complete these missions without NASA. The proposed cuts also threaten flagship missions critical to American scientific leadership, including Mars Sample Return, VERITAS, and the Uranus Orbiter and Probe. These missions represent decades of planning and billions in sunk costs. The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover demonstrates the consequences of budget instability. Originally a NASA partnership, it shifted to Russia after Obama-era cuts, then ESA had to halt that partnership in 2022 due to the Ukraine invasion. ESA invested an additional 360 million Euros to build a new landing platform after NASA stepped back in, only to face uncertainty again from Trump's proposed cuts. Space science must remain at NASA, not be outsourced to private companies whose profit motives conflict with long-term scientific research. I ask you to champion full funding for NASA's science directorate and ensure flagship missions proceed on schedule. American space leadership depends on sustained investment in public scientific exploration.