 NASA supporters attend the "NASA Needs Help!" protest June 30th at NASA HQ. It seems that every time we gather for a town hall there's more bad news. Every branch meeting is a lot more "we don't know" than answers to our questions. My inbox had at least one "I took retirement/DRP" email in it every day last week. There's a lot to be stressed about, a lot to feel justifiably sad and angry about these days. I want to emphasize, though, that the union is in it with you for the long haul. Beyond the horizon of policies we can only guess at, GESTA and their parent union, IFPTE, will continue to lawyer up, show up, and do what they can in the situation at hand. Sometimes that can be invisible to the general workforce, so I wanted to emphasize some wins recently.
Though the recent reconciliation bill included some funding for specific NASA programs, NASA’s FY26 budget has not yet been decided by Congress. This means there is still hope to save NASA and our Goddard workforce from the destructive cuts in the President’s FY26 budget request (PBR).
Congressional Appropriation committees in the Senate and House are currently developing and voting on the first versions of NASA’s FY26 budget [1, 2]. Initial news from the Senate’s Appropriation committee hearing on July 10th indicated a strong majority of bipartisan committee support to keep NASA and NASA science funding flat at FY24 levels [3, 4]. The draft House Appropriations committee budget released on July 14th also called for a flat NASA budget though included a 18% (compared to 47% in the PBR) cut to NASA science [5]. Given the still strong bipartisan support for NASA and NASA Science in Congress, and the evidence our advocacy efforts are working, now more than ever is the time to continue to make our voices heard! Please take a moment (while off duty and on a personal device) to call or email one or more of the Senate or House Appropriation committee members. Ask them to save NASA and NASA Science! Below is a link to the list of committee members and links to their official websites where you can find office phone numbers and other contact methods: Senate Appropriations Committee members House Appropriations Committee members You can reference talking points from GESTA’s prior statement on the President’ budget proposal. Or reference talking points or scripts generated by the Planetary Society here. Please also share this action with allies who may live in any of the appropriation committee’s states or districts! A House budget reconciliation package has recently gone to the Senate for review. There were some wins for federal retirement benefits in the changes made from the initial House bill, but more changes are needed. Furthermore, the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee made changes that worsened the impact to federal employees and unions. The current bill triples FERS contributions for new employees unless they become at-will employees, gives the president authority to unilaterally close agencies, taxes union dues, and enacts a $350 fee to exercise due process rights through the Merit Systems Protection Board. Our union IFPTE President Matthew Biggs released a statement, saying: “We call on all lawmakers in Congress to oppose these budget reconciliation provisions that attack the federal government and the federal workforce that serves the American public. This is not just about standing up for our members and our union, but for all Americans.” Just this week, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that these sections targeting federal employees must be removed from the current reconciliation bill since they constitute significant “non-budgetary policy changes”. This ruling is a big win for our rights, but it remains important to keep up pressure on Congress so these policies are not put forward in a different form.
IFPTE has set up a webpage on Action Network which provides an easy way for you to send a letter to your Senators asking them to reject these potential changes to federal employees benefits and rights, with a letter template you can edit: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-stop-the-attack-on-federal-unions-civil-service-protections-and-government-services-and-agencies-in-budget-reconciliation-bill You can share this link with friends and family in other states, and ask them to contact their Senators too. As usual, these actions should be performed on personal time, using a personal device, and not at work.  GESTA is encouraging people to wear red on Thursdays as a sign of solidarity and support. This action is inspired by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), who used red shirt days starting in 2012 to build unity in their fight for a better contract. “Red For Feds” has now gained new traction in 2025. It may seem like a little thing, but as Labor Notes reported, “the genius of the ‘wear red’ tactic was its simplicity. It was something concrete and low-risk that a committee member could ask anyone to do, even someone who had no extra time. The visibility helped alleviate fears: co-workers could see for themselves the growing level of union support. At first, many people would just wear a red scarf or a red-patterned blouse on Fridays. But as excitement and confidence grew, more and more ordered red CTU T-shirts. Administrators noticed. Students noticed. Members loved it. Many sent in group photos of themselves at their schools, all in red, for the union website. …’This small, simple tactic built unity very quickly,’ said labor educator Steven Ashby. It’s also a great opportunity to start – or continue – talking to your coworkers about joining union actions. Encourage them to wear “Red for Feds” on Thursdays, ask them to spread the word on, and see how much support you can build from one week to the next! Anyone can participate, not just union members.
Congress will ultimately weigh in on whether the devastating cuts to NASA in the President’s budget request become a reality. The Planetary Society has updated their main advocacy page with ways you can take action to “Save NASA” and NASA Space Science: https://www.planetary.org/save-nasa-science. This includes a petition to Congressional leaders (open to people to sign worldwide), a form that will pre-populate and send a message to your representatives, another form that will provide a script and phone numbers to call your representatives, and resources for illustrating the impacts of the proposed cuts. You can even personalize your message or call with some excerpts from GESTA’s Statement below. We encourage you to take these actions and also to share these resources with colleagues, friends and family, to help spread the word!
On April 23rd, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published a proposal for a new regulation titled “Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service” in the Federal Register. This regulation would revive a category of federal employees called “Schedule F” (first introduced in 2020 by the Trump administration and subsequently repealed under the prior Biden administration), under a new name, “Schedule Policy / Career.” This new category or “schedule” of federal workers would not have civil service job protections, making them effectively at-will employees who could be easily fired by the Trump administration. The new regulation would also involuntarily move tens of thousands (or more) current federal employees into this new "Schedule P/C," category thus stripping current civil servants of their job protections. OPM has provided a 30-day comment window before the regulation is finalized – and the comment deadline has been extended to this Saturday June 7. We encourage individuals to submit comments here, IFPTE has provided a template for comments. Additional information on this new rule is also available here from Democracy Forward.
As many are aware, union members and colleagues at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) were forced out of their current office space on May 31st, with no alternative office space yet identified. GESTA has been talking to employees at GISS in New York and meeting with management officials at Goddard to attempt to alleviate the impacts of the forced move out of the GISS building.
The Fiscal Year 2026 “skinny” budget proposal was released by the Trump Administration last Friday. The administration's proposal calls for a 24% reduction to NASA’s total budget and absolutely devastating cuts to Space Science (-44%), Earth Science (-53%), Aeronautics (-37%) and Space Technology (-48%). The budget would also eliminate all STEM educational programs and severely restrict funding to “IT services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, construction and environmental compliance activities”. These proposed cuts have already drawn an extremely negative reaction from the Space community and some political leaders. We encourage you to make your voice heard as well! The Planetary Society had compiled an Advocacy Action Center Webpage that streamlines (providing a template script and contact information) ways to call and write your Congressional representatives to advocate for NASA funding. A reminder to please do so on your personal time, on a personal device, in accordance with the Hatch Act.
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