CONGRESS WATCH: Hawai‘i senator tries to halt science layoffs

A Hawai‘i lawmaker is attempting to halt ongoing mass layoffs at federal science agencies.

This year, the Donald Trump administration has laid off more than 3,000 employees at various agencies: 2,000 from NASA, 150 at the National Science Foundation, 800 at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 70 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In response, Hawai‘i Sen. Mazie Hirono introduced four bills on Wednesday that would impose moratoria on further reductions of workforce at each of those agencies.

The bills are titled the “Saving NASA’s Workforce Act,” the “Saving NOAA’s Workforce Act,” and so on, and are all functionally identical, but with the names of the pertinent agencies swapped out as appropriate. Each bill stipulates that no workforce reductions for the agency can be made until the agency’s fiscal year 2026 budget is signed into law.

“Our federal science agencies do critical work to keep our communities safe, while also promoting and fostering innovation, conducting important research, and encouraging exploration in various fields,” Hirono said in a statement. “These reductions in our federal workforce will cause irreparable damage to this country and this regime’s blatant disregard for these agencies, as well as the well-being of the federal workers employed by them, is unacceptable.

Hirono co-introduced the bills with Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, who said in a statement the layoffs are “threatening key engines of innovation that benefit the American people and our economy.”

The bills await reading by the full Senate.