Steep budget cuts and layoffs that come to NSF

(Updated on February 15 with additional details)

The 2025 National Science Foundation (NSF) layoffs– If you support yourself from the freezing of household budgets and aggressive federal thinning, the employees of the National Science Foundation can reduce up to half and threaten the ability of the agency to finance critical research results nationwide. In the midst of forecasts of a lack of billions of dollars as part of the chip and science act and a new executive order that drives a quick reduction in the workforce.

From February 15, the agency will remain at short notice, which expired on March 14 on March 14, according to Cossa.org, so that the NSF budget remains in the floating. In a declaration of February 11, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) claimed that over 2 billion US on the website of the Senate Trade Committee. In the meantime, the Guardian reported that the layoffs that are aimed at with the employees of NSF employees of subjects have already started, and some workers only have a few minutes to clear their offices.

The development comes as Nature And others have found that the United States is the world of world role that China quickly catches up and that the world’s leading F&E donor could be the world.

Trim or stop listening prices

In view of the cuts, NSF, a great supporter of basic research in the United States, would be forced to significantly reduce or stop grant prices, which may affect thousands of researchers, universities and projects.

In 2024, the expenditure limit of the Law on Financial responsibility led to an 8% reduction in the NSF budget compared to the previous year, whereby NSF left around 6.6 billion US dollars under the financing goals that the Congress in 2022 chips and science act.

Charging of NSF financing: Historical means compared to future scenarios
Historical data that comes directly from the National Science Foundation determines the historical base of financing. Using a linear regression model, we expand this trend to project future funds – and overlap scenarios of 25% and 50%.

The layoffs of 2025 NSF, which come from the budget and aggressive federal dilations, were not created in the vacuum. At the beginning of 2025, a number of management orders from the White House placed several science agencies under a financing frier and at the same time devoted them to reduce personnel within a short time. In particular, the newly founded “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge) has given a mandate that instructed agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) to reduce employees by 25 to 50% in order to achieve strict household goals. This guideline went beyond the routine belt indicator: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) began to create employees on probation (which can be released easier) and the introduction of buyout programs, the “incentives” for the employees Offer resignation.

According to internal communications in early February 2025, the NSF leadership confirmed that the agency may be able to take around 375 to 750 employees – over the next few months. OPM has characterized these reductions in the context of a state advance to reduce the reduction of the federal authorities and described the buyout offers as a “unique opportunity”, which the employees can voluntarily leave before shortcuts. However, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction on February 6, in which the government blocked the government’s “postponed resignation” program. As a result, these immediate layoffs delayed until legal challenges were solved.

According to reports, the administration is also considering reducing the annual budget of around 9 billion US dollars to around 3 to 4 billion US dollars. Such a decline would have a significant impact on the agency’s ability to manage current and future research grants. While NSF officially commented on the exact scale of layoffs or budget cuts, the legislators, including Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), were looking for clarification of reports with a reduction in employees of up to 50%. In addition, the unions of the federal employees submitted complaints to set the buyout program.

On February 10, universities and state governments also secured a temporary injunction against a proposed 15% overall overall limit for research grants. A hearing on February 21 will determine whether this upper limit remains blocked. University manager claim that such cuts would lead to widespread layoffs and laboratory closures and would repeat the reporting of Guardian and other branches.

The most important administration of the current administration has criticized the support of the NSF for diversity, justice and inclusion initiatives (Dei). The NSF has scrubbed several DEI references from its website, including an announcement of the appointment of a Chief Diversity Officer 2022.

Operating disorders within the NSF

Suspension of grants and salary payments: The NSF leadership reacted with the break of new Grant Awards and in some cases that temporarily delayed the salary payments to scientists and administrative staff. Researchers whose grants were already underway were suddenly in the balance – not sure whether they could still pay their students, postdocs or laboratory technicians.

Targeted reduction in the workforce: The Office of Personal Management initially aimed at probation assistants because they were easier to remove. Some received a buyout, a program that, according to the Washington Post, was temporarily led into a break.

With an annual budget of 9 to 10 billion US dollars (before 2025 cuts), the NSF has financed around 25% of the federal research in 1,800 institutions in the United States in the past. In the 2023 financial year alone, NSF provided around 11,000 awards that supported more than 350,000 researchers, postdoctoral students, teachers and students nationwide.

Previous GJ 2025 budget request from NSF