Maryland lawmakers say Trump cuts to NASA Goddard could slash US space programs in half

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Prince George’s County faces deep Trump administration budget reductions that could cut the nation’s space science mission in half, Maryland Democratic lawmakers said Monday.

“If you cut the science programming in half, you hurt our country in many ways. You hurt our national security, you hurt our innovation, our economy. You hurt our leadership around the world,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters outside the center.

“This is no time to retreat when it comes to space science and yet that is exactly what the proposed Trump budget cuts would do,” the senator said.

Van Hollen and Reps. Glenn Ivey and Steny Hoyer visited the space flight center before briefing media members.

The NASA Goodard budget proposals cited by the lawmakers have not been finalized. They said the cuts could include programs such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is being developed to study distant planets and galaxies.

The center is among a number of federal agencies with headquarters or offices in Maryland, including the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, the National Institutes of Health and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Montgomery County, and the National Security Agency in Anne Arundel County.

Because of those agencies—and the number of federal workers living in the state—Maryland has faced a disproportionate impact from cuts recommended by the Trump administration, under which thousands have lost their jobs. Many of the federal government reductions were recommended by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump says Musk is doing “a fantastic job” uncovering waste, fraud and abuse.

The Baltimore Sun’s inquiries to NASA Goddard were referred to the acting Goddard news chief, who did not immediately reply.

“We’ve seen, over the last three months, an effort to essentially disassemble American enterprise, American government, and American progress by a group that knew everything about how they were going to do it and do it quickly,” said Hoyer, the former House majority leader whose district formerly included Goddard.

“But as in this instance, in almost every instance in which they’ve undertaken, they do not know the consequences,” Hoyer said.

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