Trump Administration Proposes Halving NSF Budget and Eliminating Social Sciences Division
The administration has proposed cutting the National Science Foundation budget in half and ending its Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences division. Congress rejected similar cuts last year. The NSF board was dismissed on April 24 and has not been replaced.
The Trump administration has proposed cutting the National Science Foundation budget in half and eliminating its Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences division for the next fiscal year. Congress would need to approve the changes. Last year Congress rejected comparable cuts and warned against reducing any single division's funding by more than 5 percent.
24 the administration removed all 22 members of the NSF board, which must approve major agency changes. The positions remain vacant. In an all-staff meeting last month, NSF leaders stated that the SBE division would close. Two current employees said grant reviewers for social-science proposals have begun reassignment to other departments.
The SBE division's research budget for the current fiscal year is two-thirds smaller than last year's, several employees said. By late May the agency has issued five social-science awards, compared with about 250 in a typical year. The NSF has ended support for doctoral dissertation research in archaeology, linguistics, geography, and anthropology.
A meeting of outside reviewers for science and technology studies grants was canceled this spring.
These projects track economic mobility, domestic attitudes, and voting behavior. The American Political Science Association stated last month that loss of federal support would weaken academics' ability to measure shifts in American attitudes. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the administration is focused on hard sciences rather than social sciences.
The NSF did not respond to requests for comment.
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- The Atlantic reported: The Trump administration proposed cutting the NSF budget in half and eliminating the SBE division in the next fiscal year.
- The Atlantic reported: In an all-staff meeting last month, NSF leaders stated that the SBE division would shut down.
- The Atlantic reported: By late May in a normal year the NSF distributes about 250 social-science awards; this year it has distributed five.
- The Atlantic reported: On April 24, President Trump fired all 22 members of the NSF’s board.
- The Atlantic reported: The SBE division’s research budget for the current fiscal year is two-thirds smaller than last year’s.
- The Atlantic reported: The NSF is the primary funder of the three major social-science surveys: the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the General Social Survey, and the American National Election Studies.
- The Atlantic reported: The NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences division funds roughly 63 percent of academic research in the psychological and social sciences.
- The Atlantic reported: Beginning last year the NSF ended support for doctoral-dissertation research in archaeology, linguistics, geography, and anthropology.
- The Atlantic reported: Congress rejected similar NSF cuts proposed by President Trump last year and warned against cutting any one division by more than 5 percent.
- The Atlantic reported: NSF leaders announced that experts who review social-science grant proposals would be reassigned to other departments.
- The Atlantic reported: The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is the world’s longest-running survey of families and is used by at least nine federal agencies.
- The Atlantic reported: The NSF has canceled the annual spring review meeting for science and technology studies grant proposals with no indication it will be rescheduled.
- The Atlantic reported: As of 2024 the National Science Foundation supplies about one in every 10 federal research dollars to U.S. universities.
- The Atlantic reported: The NSF board members have not been replaced.
- The Atlantic reported: The American National Election Studies has tracked American voting behavior since 1948 and produced early findings on political polarization.
- The Atlantic reported: A coalition of about 40 hard-science organizations told Congress that losing the SBE division could cause long-lasting damage to national research including in AI and biotechnology.
- The Atlantic reported: White House spokesperson Kush Desai stated that the administration is committed to cementing America’s dominance in cutting-edge technologies driven by hard sciences, not ideologically-driven social sciences.
- The Atlantic reported: Trump’s budget request spares some funding for behavioral and cognitive research possibly because of its utility in developing AI.
- The Atlantic reported: Some NSF staff working on social sciences have already been moved to other departments.
- The Atlantic reported: Last year’s SBE funding was already at historic lows.
- The Atlantic reported: The General Social Survey collects data on virtually every aspect of domestic life including values, satisfaction, and economic behavior.
- The Atlantic reported: NSF-funded economics research in the 1990s led to a more efficient national kidney-donor-matching system.
- The Atlantic reported: NSF-funded tax research led to improved retirement savings behavior among U.S. families.
- The Atlantic reported: National organizations representing NSF-funded academics warned the NSF board of the devastating implications of the proposed changes.
- The Atlantic reported: President Harry Truman proposed an agency in summer 1945 that became the National Science Foundation.
- The Atlantic reported: 160 behavioral and cognitive scientists attended a Zoom meeting last month to discuss saving the SBE division.
- The Atlantic reported: In the 1970s and 1980s multiple attempts were made in Congress and by the Reagan administration to sharply reduce or eliminate NSF social-science funding.
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