Policy Update (24 February 2026)

On 3 February, Congress passed five of the six remaining spending bills for FY2026, including funding for Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government; and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs. The federal government is currently in a partial government shutdown, however, due to an ongoing funding dispute regarding the final FY2026 bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security. The current partial government shutdown does not impact our science agencies. You can read more about the recently passed FY2026 bills for the astronomical sciences here if you haven’t already.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has been directed to pause work on a variety of missions — including the Habitable Worlds Observatory, the Geospace Dynamics Constellation, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory — for 10 business days, according to a memo sent to NASA Center Chief Financial Officers on 10 February. Many of the missions listed in the memo had direct support from Congress in the FY2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill’s Joint Explanatory Statement.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently opened the comment period for a filing from SpaceX for a new satellite constellation of one million orbital data centers in low-Earth orbit. There is also an open comment period for a filing from Reflect Orbital, a company that plans to deploy large mirrors in low-Earth orbit to power solar farms at night, for their first satellite set to launch later this year. If you are interested in submitting a comment to the FCC on either of these topics, please check out our recent action alert and instruction guide. The deadlines for submitting comments on the SpaceX and Reflect Orbital filings are 6 and 9 March, respectively.

On 17 February, the AAS sent a letter to the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and Astronomy Section leadership urging them to maintain robust support for grants and programs that support students and early-career researchers in the scientific community. You can read the full letter here.

This month, the AAS submitted three public reply comments to the FCC:

1. A reply comment regarding the proposed overhaul of the satellite licensing process
2. A reply comment regarding the use of upper microwave spectrum
3. A reply comment regarding the use of upper C-band spectrum

On 4 February, the AAS submitted a letter to Senate Commerce Committee leadership regarding concerns over the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act, a bill that seeks to revise how the FCC regulates market access for US satellites. In the letter, we express the astronomical community’s concern over the “Deemed Granted” provisions of the bill, which may lead to the inadvertent granting of applications that have significant impacts on astronomy. The bill was reported favorably by the Senate Commerce Committee following an amendment from Senators Cantwell and Cruz that includes multiple changes to the “Deemed Granted” framework.

The AAS also recently submitted a letter to Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security in response to a proposed change to the agency’s information collection activities. In the letter, we argue that it is not in the US national interest to create new barriers for effective collaboration with our international partners.

As reported by Lindsey Milliken at the American Institute of Physics, “the Department of Labor is expected to post a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise upward the pay employers must offer to foreign workers who would have an H-1B visa or an employment-based green card.” While it will not be known how this proposed rule will directly affect the scientific community until the NPRM is released, the AAS will continue to monitor the situation and update the AAS membership accordingly.

Last week, Congresswoman Foushee and 24 other members of Congress sent a letter to Michael Kratsios, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and David Sacks, Special Advisor for AI and Crypto in the White House, that calls for increased transparency and commitment to STEM education and research and development. You can read the press release and letter here.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to [email protected]. For a chronological list of recent AAS actions and public policy updates, check out our Public Policy Updates page.