Science policy this week: Mar. 17, 2025

What’s Ahead

Phillip Burton Federal Building.png — The courthouse in San Francisco where a judge ordered federal agencies to reinstate fired probationary employees.

Sam Wheeler / CC BY-SA 3.0

Probationary employees reinstated at science agencies

Last week, judges in California and Maryland ordered several agencies to immediately offer all fired probationary employees their jobs back, in some cases temporarily. The covered agencies include the Department of Energy and the U.S. Geological Survey in the California case and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Institutes of Health in the Maryland case. The Maryland judge’s decision is a temporary restraining order that lasts until March 27, though the judge said he will consider extending it. The White House has appealed both decisions.

In response to the decisions, DOE issued a re-hiring notice to all impacted employees that says the department is reissuing equipment and badges so fired employees can resume work as soon as possible. Some agencies appear to be placing re-hired employees on paid administrative leave until further notice. Before the decisions, NIH had reinstated 250 of the nearly 1,200 probationary employees it laid off in February, Science reported. Some reinstated employees have expressed concern about the permanence of their employment.

The California judge, William Alsup, noted that the reduction in force orders (RIFs) are legal and can go forward. Democrats on the House Science Committee sent letters to science agencies last week demanding that they share their plans immediately upon sending them to the White House and to brief committee staff on the plans’ projected impact on the agency. The White House’s deadline for receiving the plans was last Thursday. So far, the committee minority staff have received word from NASA that the agency received a week-long extension to submit their plan, a staff member told FYI. NASA leadership will meet with Department of Government Efficiency representatives on Tuesday regarding RIF plans, according to NASA Watch. At NOAA, managers have been asked to cut 1,029 positions, 10% of the agency’s current workforce, said former administrator Rick Spinrad in a press call last week organized by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). He added that he anticipates “vertical cuts” that will fully eliminate some of NOAA’s functions. Recently reinstated employees may face layoffs again within weeks, as probationary and temporary employees remain most vulnerable to reassignment and dismissal during RIFs.

Senate averts government shutdown

Congress passed a short-term spending plan put forward by Republicans on Friday, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown that was set to begin that night. The bill continues federal government spending near current levels until the end of the fiscal year in September, with an increase of $6 billion for defense and a cut of $13 billion for nondefense spending compared to FY24 enacted levels. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Saturday.

The passing of the stop-gap spending bill in the Senate exposed divisions among Democrats, as many House representatives opposed the bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) initially appeared to support shutting down the government before announcing Thursday that he would vote to advance the bill. “While the continuing resolution bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said during a speech on the Senate floor last week. Schumer and eight Democrats voted to advance the bill to a final vote, but only one Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), voted for the 54-46 passage of the bill. Sen. Angus King (I-ME), who caucuses with Democrats, also voted for the bill.

Many Democrats opposed the spending bill out of concern that it would allow President Trump to continue dismantling federal agencies. Schumer, on the other hand, argued on the Senate floor that a government shutdown “would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.” A letter from House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), cosigned by 21 Democrat representatives, urged Schumer to reject the continuing resolution on the basis it “will only serve to enable President Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republican Party’s ongoing efforts to unilaterally and unlawfully destroy the agencies and programs that serve the American people.” Another letter to Schumer from Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA), cosigned by 66 House Democrats, similarly argued Republican leadership would continue “illegally shutting critical government functions.”

Senate introduces NASA authorization bill

A bipartisan ⁠100-page bill to reauthorize NASA was introduced in the Senate on March 11. The bill is co-sponsored by Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) in addition to two Republican and three Democrat members of the committee. In a ⁠statement, Cruz said the bill “allows commercial space ventures to flourish, builds up a U.S.-led low-Earth orbit economy, and takes the first step towards returning America to the Moon and ensuring we will be first on Mars.” The senators recommended funding NASA at $25.5 billion in FY25, a slight increase over the agency’s FY24 budget of $24.9 billion, but the passage of the continuing resolution on Friday will keep NASA funding at FY24 levels this year. A ⁠similar authorization bill was introduced in December but did not progress before the end of the last Congress.

The bill explicitly reaffirms congressional support for the Space Launch System, which has faced criticism for cost overruns and delays. The bill similarly expresses support for the Mars Sample Return mission but includes thinly veiled criticism of that mission’s cost and timing, instructing the administrator to establish a “realistic” cost estimate within 90 days and sign a fixed-price contract for the mission with industry partners within a year of the bill’s passage. It also calls for the U.S. to continue supporting the International Space Station until a commercial alternative is operational. The ISS is currently set to be deorbited after its operations end in 2030.

Also on our radar

During remarks at a major energy conference last week, newly appointed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright advocated for the expansion of American oil and gas production. Wright called the Biden administration’s focus on climate policy “myopic” and argued that the rise in global emissions is a “side effect of building the modern world.”
The Senate Health and Senate Commerce committees voted to advance the nominations of Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health and Michael Krastios to be Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Both nominations will now move to a Senate floor vote.
The White House withdrew the nomination of Dave Weldon to be CDC director last week. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and other Republicans on the committee responsible for considering Weldon’s nomination reportedly expressed reservations about his skepticism of vaccines.
The ARPA-E Innovation Summit is taking place in Washington, DC, this week. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is among the speakers.
In accordance with one of President Trump’s recent executive orders, the Department of Homeland Security terminated eight advisory councils last week, including the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board and the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee.