Early insights on the FY27 federal budget

On April 3, the White House sent its FY27 budget request to Congress. Similar to last year’s proposal, it asks for steep cuts and program eliminations to the research and student aid programs that fund Cornell faculty and students. For example, the NIH would be cut by 13%, while the NSF would be cut by more than 50%. The budget would totally eliminate research at NOAA and the EPA, and zeros out many of USDA’s land-grant research and extension programs that connect Cornell resources to communities across New York State.

Congress’s long negotiation and reconciliation process has kicked off. It’s far too early to predict final outcomes, but we see encouraging signs that last year’s advocacy may have made a lasting impression.

Agriculture: On April 23, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee advanced the USDA-FDA spending bill by a vote of 10-7. The bill keeps funding steady, rejecting the administration’s steep cuts to research, extension programs, and support for land-grant universities.

Grape research: The USDA-FDA bill includes $2 million for a spending project, advanced by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY). It will fund plant growth facilities for the USDA ARS National Grape Improvement Center, being built at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, NY.

NSF: The House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee rejected the Administration’s proposed cuts to NSF, NASA, and NOAA, and affirmed support for indirect cost recovery at a markup on April 29.

NIH cuts: The White House proposed a nearly $16 billion in cuts to health programs, including $6 billion from the National Institutes of Health. During eight days of committee hearings, Health Secretary Kennedy faced concerns from both parties—with particular pushback on the NIH cuts. This resistance suggests that, like last year, the cuts might be rejected.

Computing: Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) also got an earmark in the CJS spending bill for Cornell Tech of $772,000, to purchase computing equipment. The funds will be used add to a new computing cluster for cybersecurity research for agentic AI.

Two more ways to help Cornellians this spring

Your calls to Congress went to work right away. Here are two other ways to make an immediate impact:

• Help current students prepare for careers. Sign up for CUeLinks to answer questions, offer perspectives, and make connections.
• Give direct funding support. There’s a Cornell annual fund for nearly every area of the university. Make a gift to any of them, of any amount, and they’ll be able to use 100% of those dollars immediately.

Thank you for everything you do to show that Cornell matters!