5 March 2025

Action Alert: Support the Sciences Through Congressional Constituent Requests

This action alert has closed for 2025. AAS members have submitted over 100 constituent appropriations request forms to their members of Congress, resulting in many of these offices signing letters to appropriations committees in support of robust funding for NSF, NASA SMD, and the DOE Office of Science.

TAKE ACTION: ASK YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO SUPPORT THE SCIENCES!

One of the most effective ways to make your voice heard is through a constituent appropriations request — essentially, asking your congressional representative to direct funding toward a particular area. If you would like to see your members of Congress support a vigorous US science enterprise, including appropriating robust basic research funding for the astronomical sciences, follow the steps below to submit a constituent appropriations request. Be clear that you are asking for yourself and not your employer. Feel free to reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.

Here is a brief overview of the steps to request funding for astronomy:

Find the FY 2026 Appropriations Request form for your members of Congress. This spreadsheet contains links to some of the forms; note that not every office has their form currently available, while others have imminent deadlines. Consider checking back every few weeks to see if your office has a form listed, or calling the office to ask about their timeline. For more information, see the detailed instructions below.
For each of your representatives, fill out the form once per program you would like to request funding for. We recommend the following three programs and amounts:
   • National Science Foundation ($9.9 billion)
   • NASA Science Mission Directorate ($9 billion)
   • DOE Office of Science ($9.5 billion)
Fill out the form using your personal information (not your professional affiliation).
Describe how this funding will impact you, your research, and your district.
After submitting the request, please take some time to fill out this short form so that AAS can track submissions and help you follow up on your request.
Share these steps with your community and on social media!

A full description of the steps above — and more detailed information about submitting constituent appropriations requests — follows below:

Requests for Appropriations

Appropriations are the process by which Congress provides an agency with budget authority, and appropriations bills provide federal funding for each fiscal year. There is an annual process through which all Senators and Representatives can propose what their individual offices want in that year's appropriations bill. It's a numbers game: the more member requests supporting a particular line item, the better that line item tends to fare. The requests that each members makes are informed by input from constituents, companies, organizations, and others. Each member office has its own webform and deadline for collecting this input, with Senate offices typically opening and closing later in the year than the House. Even though the President has yet to submit a budget request for FY2026, Hill offices are following their own processes and deadlines for collecting this input. The information below (and more background) is included in this YouTube video.

How To Make a Request

First, identify your members of Congress (two Senators and one Representative) using the following webpage: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Each office has its own form. To find the forms for your representatives:

First, check this spreadsheet. The AAS public policy team is trying our best to keep up-to-date information on forms and deadlines for each office here. If the spreadsheet does not contain a link to the form for your representative, then
Search on your favorite search engine for “[Rep/Sen] [Name] FY 2026 Appropriations Request Form.” The link to the form, if it exists, should be on your representative's website.
Look for the “Non-Defense Programmatic” appropriations form, not “Congressionally Directed Spending”.
You can fill out one form for each of your members of Congress and submit it once for every program for which you're requesting funding.
Note that not every member of Congress has a form currently available, and the deadlines for these forms vary significantly by office. If you aren't able to find the form for your member of Congress, try giving their office a call, and ask for information about the FY 2026 programmatic appropriations request form, and to be added to the mailing list for FY 2026 appropriations requests.
If you are unable to find the form, please contact [email protected], and we will try our best to help!

Each form asks for identifying information to make sure you are a constituent. Further down the form, there will be more text boxes you need to fill out; keep reading for tips on how to fill them out. If you run into a box that is not like any of those described below, email [email protected], and we can help.

How To Fill Out the Request Form

Here is a list of commonly used items on the forms, in bold, and how to answer them:

You are the point of contact, so provide your personal information. When filling out appropriations requests, make sure your contact information is not employer affiliated. Use your personal contact information, e.g., your home address and phone number. You can mention your organization/institution if you are asked for your employer, but state that you are not speaking on behalf of your employer; you are only advocating as an individual. We suggest contacting your institution's government affairs office to let them know you are submitting this form as an individual. Organization is the American Astronomical Society. You can use this organization info:
- American Astronomical Society
  1667 K St NW, Suite 800
  Washington DC 20006
  +1 202-328-2010 x113 | [email protected]
Dollar amounts are funding/budget requests (increase). A bill language request is something like adding text about the importance of a particular mission, or protecting dark and quiet skies. You must submit these separately, so if you wish to submit both a funding/budget request and a bill language request, you must fill out the form twice. We highly recommend that you submit funding/budget requests. Please contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in submitting a bill language request.
Title/name of your request is just a one-sentence (max) description of the ask.
For NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the appropriations subcommittee is Commerce, Justice, and Science. For the Department of Energy (DOE), the appropriations subcommittee is Energy and Water.
The account is the name of the appropriations line item (for example, NASA Science Mission Directorate, National Science Foundation, or DOE Office of Science). This is for funding requests only; leave blank for language requests. If you are asked for a separate Program Title, you can enter "topline funding".
Amount desired for FY 2026: these are our advocacy requests for the following science agencies (you must fill out the form separately for each agency, though you need only submit a form for the agency(ies) relevant to your work/study). If you would like to request a funding line item for another relevant agency such as DOD or Smithsonian, you are welcome to do that, but the AAS as an organization doesn't have a specific funding amount outside these three agencies since they are the primary agencies supporting our discpline's decadal surveys.
- NSF: $9.9 billion
- NASA Science Mission Directorate: $9 billion
- DOE Office of Science: $9.5 billion
  
  An important note on these numbers: these are funding levels that we have worked to develop within coalitions of other science societies and stakeholders. We believe that these are the funding levels necessary to execute our communities’ scientific priorities while also keeping a balanced portfolio of missions, facilities, and grants. We recognize that there are macro budgetary issues swirling around DC, including the proper size and role of the federal government. The AAS has long held that investing in fundamental research is an inherently governmental role even though our discipline also benefits from philanthropic investment. Our advocacy is carried out in concert with other professional societies, universities, companies, and other non-profits, and while we each have our own perspectives, each organization first and foremost advocates for a strong basic research ecosystem. We are hearing rumors of deep cuts to science in the forthcoming President's Budget Request for FY2026, and we will have more to say and do when that request arrives in a couple months, but please keep in mind that the President's Budget is just a request and that Congress is the final arbiter on appropriations. Influencing these member requests is the first step in that Congressional process.

The form may ask for the President's Budget Request number (not yet available for FY26) and the federal funding history. You can find the federal funding history for NASA, NSF, and DOE Office of Science using AIP's Federal Science Budget Tracker. For FY 2024 and FY2025, $7.3 billion was enacted for NASA SMD, $9.1 billion was enacted for NSF, and $8.2 billion was enacted for DOE Office of Science.
This is Discretionary Spending, NOT Direct/Mandatory Spending.
Project Number and Designated Offset can be left blank.
Federal agency/office is NASA, NSF, or DOE (depending on which one you are asking for).
Program Element is for Defense only; you can skip that.
There should be space to describe the ask and how it benefits the state/district. Talk about why it matters to you as their constituent. Tell your story in a brief and compelling manner.
If you are asked to provide supporting documents, you can upload a document with the explanatory paragraph discussing why the request benefits the state/district.
The office will not be “briefed” on the issues unless you plan on meeting with them (consider attending this webinar to learn more about how to set up in-district and Zoom meetings).

Again, these fields can vary by form, so feel free to contact us at [email protected] or (202) 328-2010 x124 (9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET) if you have any questions!

After submitting the request, please take some time to fill out this short form so that AAS can track submissions and help you follow up on your request.