WHITE HOUSE RELEASES FULL FY26 BUDGET REQUEST
Despite reports last week that no budget was forthcoming, the White House released more detailed budget documents for Fiscal Year 2026 Friday evening. The more detailed documents follow the release of the “skinny budget” last month, which provided overall proposed funding levels for the upcoming fiscal year.
As for specific priorities of interest to Duke, here is what we know so far:
National Institutes of Health - $27.5 billion (40 percent below FY 25)
The budget proposal would mandate a 15 percent cap on facilities and administrative costs, and includes a reorganization of NIH’s current structure into 8 institutes.
National Science Foundation - $3.9 billion (56 percent below FY 25)
The proposed funding level would translate into a 7 percent success rate for competitive proposals, down from 23 percent in FY 24. The budget request also proposes a restructuring of NSF to align budget resources to private sector R&D and “offer strong potential to drive economic growth and strengthen US technological leadership.” Critical priorities include artificial intelligence, quantum information sciences, Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), with continued investments in biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, microelectronics/semiconductors and advanced wireless.
Department of Education - $66.7 billion (15.3 percent below FY 25)
The FY 26 budget request would reduce the maximum award for Pell Grants to $5,710 from the current level of $7,395. It also proposes a $980 million cut to the Federal Work-Study Program.
Department of Energy Office of Science - $7.1 billion (14 percent below FY 25)
The budget request reduces funding for climate and clean energy and seeks to prioritize emerging technologies like high-performance computing, quantum, AI, fusion and critical minerals.
National Endowment for the Humanities - $0
The administration proposes to eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Several agencies, like the Department of Defense, have not yet released full budget documents. The Office of Government Relations will provide more updates and resources as the White House provides more information. As a reminder, the budget request is mostly a wish list for the White House, and Congress will spend the coming weeks and months developing appropriations bills that align with its own priorities. For a quick overview of the congressional appropriations process, please see the graphic below.
