US: Cut in R&D spending in 2026 much lower than feared, according to scientific association

US federal government spending on R&D is estimated to be $194.9 billion (€164.43bn) in 2026, a cut of only 0.2% in 2026. This compares to the 20.5% cut proposed by President Trump's White House, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a multidisciplinary scientific organisation.

"This is a significant departure from the proposed cuts at the beginning of the budget process, where the Presidential Budget Request (PBR) proposed a 20.5% cut to R&D, as did both initial estimates of the House (-5.8%) and Senate (-4.6%)," AAAS said in its final report, published on 04/02/2026.

The organisation attributes the difference between the expected R&D budget and the final one to:
• a sudden increase in the Defense Department’s Research, Development, Evaluation and Testing funding, where the army and navy accounts are responsible for the majority of the 4.9% increase in defence R&D spending;
• basic research seeing a potential increase as well, mostly from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which received a small boost in funding in the final bills…