The House Appropriations Committee advanced its fiscal 2027 energy-and-water bill last week, proposing a 1% increase for DOE's Office of Science — a direct rejection of the president's requested 15% cut. The detailed bill report, released after the May 20 markup led by Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) and Energy-Water Subcommittee Chair Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), spells out division-level allocations and requests briefings on future support for the Genesis Mission and on cost-estimation practices for major scientific projects.

For lab managers planning computing budgets, the Advanced Scientific Computing Research line is the headline. The House proposes a 5% increase that includes $60 million for the Equinox and Lux supercomputers at Argonne and Oak Ridge. Strip out those additions and ASCR is essentially flat. The $60 million figure also falls far short of the president's $1.2 billion request for Equinox, Lux, and Solstice. The report states the committee provides no funding for any future AI supercomputers at national lab facilities until it "gains a better understanding on infrastructure, operations, and outyear funding implications" — a signal that exascale-adjacent procurement plans should not count on new starts yet.

Basic Energy Sciences would rise 4%, including a 56% boost for operations of high-flux neutron sources and increases for two light source projects the president's request proposed deferring. Biological and Environmental Research takes the deepest House cut at -6%, though the administration wanted -54%; the House keeps atmospheric research and facilities funded where the request provided nothing. Fusion Energy Sciences faces a 1% research cut and flat funding for the U.S. contribution to ITER, and the bill excludes the separate Office of Fusion entirely, stating commercialization belongs in the Office of Technology Commercialization.

High Energy Physics gets 2% overall, pairing a 1% research cut — versus the president's proposed 17% — with the requested increase for LBNF/DUNE and the requested cut to the Proton Improvement Plan II. Nuclear Physics stays essentially flat, with a 6% research cut offset by boosts to low- and medium-energy physics facilities. Isotope R&D is flat overall, combining a 5% research increase with the requested decrease for the U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center.

The Interior-Environment subcommittee advanced a separate bill proposing a 4% cut to the U.S. Geological Survey. The full committee takes it up Wednesday, with the detailed report expected beforehand.

Agency leadership moves

The Senate confirmed a bloc of nominees 46-43, including Arvind Raman as NIST director, Matthew Anderson as NASA deputy administrator, and Kyle Haustveit as DOE under secretary. Haustveit succeeds Wells Griffith, removed in October.

The NSF nominee, Jim O'Neill, still has no hearing scheduled. AAAS is urging the Senate to hold an open one, writing that "Mr. O'Neill must articulate to this Committee and to the American people his vision for American discovery science in an era of tremendous disruption." The letter cites a 30% drop in NSF staff, a 59% decrease in spending between 2025 and 2026, withheld grants, and reduced international collaboration. It also flags O'Neill's "unconventional background" — he lacks an advanced science degree, previously acted as CDC director, worked at HHS under George W. Bush, and invested through the Thiel Foundation's Breakout Labs.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a reorganization Friday. The Science Mission Directorate is unchanged but now reports directly to Isaacman, as do all directorate heads. Exploration systems development and space operations merge into a Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate; aeronautics research and space technology merge into a Research and Technology Mission Directorate. "There will be no reduction in force, no program cancellations, no closures, but we will achieve cost savings through more efficient execution," Isaacman states. New center directors: Jamie Dunn at Goddard — praised in April for keeping the Roman Space Telescope on track without further overruns — Brian Hughes at Kennedy, and Dawn Schaible at Glenn. House Science Democrats have accused Hughes of having "personally directed the agency's illegal implementation of the White House budget last year."

CHIPS money redirected to quantum

Commerce announced letters of intent delivering more than $2 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funds to quantum companies, including $1 billion to IBM to establish a quantum foundry subsidiary for quantum-grade superconducting wafers and more than $600 million split across seven other companies to "address the most consequential, unresolved engineering problems." Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), ranking member on House Science, called the plans "illegal and troubling on so many levels," arguing the funds were set aside for public-private microelectronics R&D partnerships, not quantum manufacturing incentives. She also criticized the equity stakes Commerce is taking: "That represents communism, not capitalism." The department moved to allocate CHIPS R&D funds through a single solicitation in November after clawing back $7.4 billion from the National Semiconductor Technology Center.

Also on the radar

NASA will open a competition to operate the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Caltech has run the lab since inception and its agreement ends September 30, 2028. A GAO report estimates nine agencies, including NSF and DOE, could collectively spend up to $1 billion annually on publishing charges — more than triple 2024 levels — and only NIH had planned for the budgetary effects of pay-to-publish models. NIH and NASA are imposing stricter foreign co-authorship rules on some grantees despite no formal guidance change, Science reported. House Science Republicans pressed NOAA on weather-modification oversight, citing a February GAO report and raising concerns about marine cloud brightening risks. G7 science academies issued statements on Arctic protection, satellite constellation coordination, and brain health ahead of the June summit. The UN passed a resolution holding governments liable for climate inaction over U.S. opposition. Connecticut will provide $35 million to its state university after the administration cut $95 million of its research funding in 2025. CERN opened its public consultation on the Future Circular Collider, running through October.

The Senate still must pass its own appropriations bills, and the CHIPS dispute is heading toward a direct confrontation between Commerce and Congress — both will shape lab budgets well before the fiscal year begins.