{"id":17089,"date":"2025-09-29T18:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T10:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/sen-maria-cantwell-releases-report-citing-nasa-whistleblowers-concerns-about-budget-cuts\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T18:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T10:44:11","slug":"sen-maria-cantwell-releases-report-citing-nasa-whistleblowers-concerns-about-budget-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/sen-maria-cantwell-releases-report-citing-nasa-whistleblowers-concerns-about-budget-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Maria Cantwell releases report citing NASA whistleblowers\u2019 concerns about budget  cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1260\" height=\"709\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250929-cantwell-hearing-1260x709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-892282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250929-cantwell-hearing-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250929-cantwell-hearing-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250929-cantwell-hearing-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/250929-cantwell-hearing.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., speaks during a hearing on legislative priorities for NASA. (Senate Commerce Dems via YouTube) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., today released a report that quotes NASA whistleblowers as saying they\u2019ve \u201calready seen safety impacts\u201d affecting the space agency, due to budget cuts that are canceling out previously appropriated funding.<\/p>\n<p>One whistleblower is quoted as voicing concern \u201cthat we\u2019re going to see an astronaut death within a few years\u201d because of the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cchainsaw approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike other premier science agencies, NASA has thrived on consistent, bipartisan investments, which are essential to America\u2019s economic prosperity and technological supremacy. But today, NASA faces an existential threat under the Trump administration,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n<p>In response to GeekWire\u2019s inquiry, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said that \u201cthis report is false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe president\u2019s budget request stands with Congress at this point, and NASA will enact the budget appropriated to us,\u201d Kshatriya said in an emailed statement. <strong>(Full statement in the update at the end of this article.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The report, titled \u201cThe Destruction of NASA\u2019s Mission,\u201d was prepared by Democratic staff members for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where Cantwell serves as the ranking member. <\/p>\n<p>It says the White House Office of Management and Budget directed NASA in early summer to begin implementing cutbacks called for in President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year \u2014 even though those proposed cuts go far beyond what\u2019s in effect for the fiscal year that\u2019s about to end. <\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s current annual budget is $24.8 billion, but the proposed 2026 budget amounts to $18.8 billion, or nearly 25% less. In contrast, the budget bills being considered in the House and Senate would keep NASA spending relatively unchanged.<\/p>\n<p>If Congress and the White House can\u2019t agree on a stopgap spending plan in the next couple of days, the federal government would have to go into shutdown mode when the current fiscal year ends on Oct. 1. The likeliest endgame involves approving a continuing resolution, or CR, that would temporarily keep funding at current levels. But the Democratic staff report suggests that the White House plans to slash NASA\u2019s budget nevertheless.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LIVE: Senate floor as government shutdown approaches on Oct. 1\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5LQwiRjASzg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The report cites an internal agency note provided by a whistleblower that says: \u201cIf there is a CR, impoundment is likely going to get on the table as a mechanism to get to the PBR\u201d \u2014 that is, the presidential budget request.<\/p>\n<p>In the report, that move is characterized as part of an \u201cillegal plot\u201d that would ignore congressional funding levels. But it\u2019s not clear how the courts would rule. Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to withhold nearly $4 billion in previously appropriated foreign aid, at least temporarily, while the justices consider the constitutional questions.<\/p>\n<p>The report also quotes whistleblowers as saying that internal dissent has been shut down. One whistleblower said NASA employees \u201chave been told to get in line with the PBR or lose their job or position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The White House\u2019s budget request would reduce spending on space science by 47%, which the nonprofit Planetary Society says would force \u201cwidespread terminations of functional missions worth billions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic staff report estimates that a reduction of $33 billion in non-defense federal spending in science, research and technology \u2014 including cuts suffered by NASA programs \u2014 would reduce U.S. economic output by $46.4 billion over the next 10 years. It projects that there\u2019d be 866 fewer Ph.D. graduates in science, tech, engineering and math and 10,704 fewer researchers in the United States over the same time frame. \u201cLoss of these high-impact researchers would constitute a major setback for U.S. R&amp;D capacity and our ability to win the race on AI and other transformative frontier technologies,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>The continuing resolution proposed by Senate Democrats would, among other things, head off future efforts to rescind previously approved funding. But with the GOP in control of the House and the Senate as well as the White House, the prospects for such a measure are murky.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 1 p.m. PT Oct. 1:<\/strong> NASA officials took issue with the claims made in the Democratic staff report. Here are the statements we received via email in response to our inquiry:<\/p>\n<p><strong>NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya:<\/strong> \u201cThis report is false. NASA has communicated openly and transparently with Congress that we continue to execute our available appropriated funding in accordance with established fiscal policies which respect congressional authorities. NASA will never compromise on safety. The president\u2019s budget request stands with Congress at this point, and NASA will enact the budget appropriated to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens:<\/strong> \u201cThe intentionally timed release of this inflammatory, false report is nothing more than a distraction tactic from Senate Democrats. As Democrats push to shut our government down, they\u2019re attempting to divert attention. Meanwhile, Secretary [Sean] Duffy and the NASA delegation are in Sydney, Australia, advancing critical work to keep America first in space exploration.\u201d (Sean Duffy is serving as NASA\u2019s acting administrator as well as secretary of transportation.)<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, NASA Watch reports that at least some of the funding cancellations based on the presidential budget request were rescinded before this week\u2019s government shutdown. \u201cWhether this actually comes to fruition \u2013 or if OMB efforts negate the impact \u2013 remains to be seen. But good news is better than bad news,\u201d NASA Watch founder Keith Cowing wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., speaks during a hearing on legislative priorities for NASA. (Senate Commerce Dems via YouTube) U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., today released a report that quotes NASA whistleblowers as saying they\u2019ve \u201calready seen safety impacts\u201d affecting the space agency, due to budget cuts that are canceling out previously appropriated funding. One whistleblower [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[631,4372,190,21,1125],"class_list":["post-17089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-budget","tag-maria-cantwell","tag-nasa","tag-space","tag-u-s-senate"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}