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GESTA membership recently passed a resolution to condemn the killing of Alex Pretti, a fellow federal employee and federal union member, by federal immigration agents. You can read the GESTA resolution text here. As noted, copies of this resolution are in the process of being sent to the international leadership of IFPTE, members of Congress representing GESTA districts, other stakeholders, and the press
On January 14th GESTA members and allies, as well as IFPTE leadership, rallied on Capitol Hill with other federal union members in support of the The Protect American Workforce Act (PAWA).
Following months of diligent advocacy by GESTA members and tens of thousands of citizens across the country, Congress passed, and the President signed into law a NASA budget that funds the agency from February 1st through September 30th, 2026. A Planetary Society article gives a detailed overview of the topline funding as well as a mission-by-mission comparison between the budget as passed and the FY26 President’s Budget Request (PBR). With the exception of Mars Sample Return, all missions that were threatened with premature termination under the PBR received funding in the budget as passed. Furthermore, the Safety, Security, and Mission Services (SSMS) budget received nearly-flat funding ($3B in FY26, as compared to $3.1B in FY24 and FY25). SSMS funds the Center Engineering, Safety, and Operations (CESO) budget, which includes institutional and technical capabilities, facilities, and technical authority functions at Goddard Space Flight Center.
We want to highlight several GSFC-specific points included in the budget that will be of interest to readers: On Monday, December 15th, members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation hosted informal hearings at the Capital focused on the status and future of NASA Goddard and space science in Maryland. They heard from Goddard Center leadership, and other Maryland and Goddard partners in space science. GESTA president Trysh Moton also spoke to the delegation during the event. You can read her opening statement and written testimony to the delegation here. Following these panel discussions, Congressional representatives hosted a press conference where they reiterated their strong support for NASA Goddard. You can view a video of the press conference at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCal_TusnNE.
Take action by reaching out to your Congressional leaders to encourage them to pass a bipartisan government funding bill which ends the current shutdown, while protecting Congress’s constitutional powers to set agency funding levels. As IFPTE notes on their action page: “a bipartisan CR needs to include legislative language protecting congressionally approved funding levels from being withheld by the Administration and prevent a unilateral implementation of the President’s budget contrary to Congressional intent. The Administration has already used unprecedented tactics such as "pocket rescissions" to withhold funds until they expire, effectively nullifying bipartisan funding agreements. Without legislative safeguards, any 2026 funding deal risks being ignored or overturned, which completely undermines the Constitutional authority of Congress to set and approve spending levels.”
You can send a letter directly via IFPTE’s action page: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-stop-the-shutdown-get-back-to-work-and-pass-a-bipartisan-funding-bill?source=direct_link& During the week of Sept 15th- 19th, our parent union IFPTE arranged several meetings between union members and Democratic and Republican Senators, Representatives, and their staff. Union members from IFPTE locals and AFGE locals from 4 different NASA centers took leave and traveled to Washington, DC to attend these meetings and actively represent members. In total, around 20 NASA union members attended 35 separate meetings.
Thank you to GESTA members and friends who came out to participate in recent outreach events to the local Greenbelt community over the Labor Day weekend! These events included tabling at the festival under the “NASA Needs Help” effort, and marching in the Labor Day parade under the GESTA banner.
Based on guidance from IFPTE, we plan to continue to take action and represent our members in the following ways:
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