President Donald Trump signed a federal spending deal that restores billions in funding for major US science agencies after months of proposed reductions that would have sharply affected university research. The agreement followed advocacy by Columbia University affiliates and rejected the White House’s earlier 2026 budget proposal.The deal increased funding for the National Institutes of Health and preserved spending for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, despite earlier efforts to reduce their budgets. According to reporting by the Columbia Spectator, the outcome marked a break from the administration’s prior attempts to scale back federal support for scientific research.Federal funding and Columbia’s research footprintColumbia relies heavily on federal agencies to fund research across its schools. As reported by the Columbia Spectator, the university received $1.3 billion in federal grants in 2025, representing about 19 per cent of its operating budget. Nearly half of that total came from the NIH.Trump’s proposed 2026 budget would have cut more than $17 billion from the NIH, amounting to a 40 per cent reduction from the previous year. The plan called for eliminating four of the agency’s 24 institutes and consolidating the remainder, figures cited by the Columbia Spectator show.Congress rejected that proposal and instead approved an additional $1.7 billion for the NIH compared with the year prior. Lawmakers also kept CDC funding close to current levels, despite a request from the administration to reduce the agency’s budget by roughly half.Advocacy and congressional responseMarcel Agüeros, a professor of astronomy and Columbia College alumnus who helped organise an advocacy trip to Washington, DC, said the outcome reflected sustained pressure from multiple groups. “There was a scale of mobilisation across professional societies, across universities, and across patient and science supporters,” Agüeros said, as quoted by the Columbia Spectator.The spending deal ended a partial government shutdown triggered by disagreements over Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding. While the dispute drew attention for immigration policy, the Columbia Spectator reported that lawmakers also used the deal to push back against proposed science cuts.Cancer research and patient impactThe final budget included a modest increase for the National Cancer Institute, which the administration had sought to cut by about 37 per cent. In 2025, the NCI awarded 134 of the 943 grants received by Columbia Health Sciences, totalling $74.6 million, according to the Columbia Spectator.Samuel Braslow, a Journalism School student on medical leave while undergoing treatment for stage four melanoma, said the funding threat had been a source of anxiety. “This felt like something hanging over my head,” Braslow said, as quoted by the Columbia Spectator.Braslow participated in an experimental cell therapy trial after other treatments failed. He told the Columbia Spectator that new trials depend on steady funding and that threats of cuts slowed research progress.Ongoing concerns over spending delaysCongress also approved appropriations for the National Science Foundation and NASA on January 23, 2025, with only slight reductions from the previous year. Agüeros told the Columbia Spectator that federal dollars remain “fundamental” to astronomy research.Despite restored funding levels, the Government Accountability Office found the administration cancelled about 1,800 grants between February and June 2025. With the federal budget expiring in September, the Columbia Spectator reported that further disputes over science funding remain possible.
