Elon Musk took on reports that President Donald Trump’s proposed budget includes massive cuts to NASA’s science funding in a sign that tech billionaire isn’t done taking swipes at the administration's MAGA policies he disagrees with.
Musk’s second split from the administration came after his vocal opposition to the president’s tariff plan – an action that impacts the entrepreneur’s companies and comes amid reports that his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency could be winding down, Politico said Friday.
Musk escalated that fight by hurling repeated insults at Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro. But his latest remarks came on Friday in response to reports of funding cuts at NASA, which counts the Musk-owned SpaceX as one of its largest contractors.
“Troubling,” Musk wrote on his X platform. “I am very much in favor of science, but unfortunately cannot participate in NASA budget discussions, due to SpaceX being a major contractor to NASA.”
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While the budget numbers have not been confirmed, space journalist Eric Berger reported Friday that a draft version of the budget for the fiscal year 2026 shows a nearly 50% cut in funding to NASA's science programs.
“According to the ‘passback’ documents given to NASA officials on Thursday, the space agency's science programs would receive nearly a 50 percent cut in funding,” Berger wrote for tech outlet Ars Technica. “After the agency received $7.5 billion for science in fiscal-year 2025, the Trump administration has proposed a science topline budget of just $3.9 billion for the coming fiscal year.”
Musk was not the only figure on Capitol Hill to come out swinging against the proposed cuts, which Politico noted are likely to face pushback from Congress.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) criticized the cuts as “shortsighted" and "dangerous” and promised to challenge them, Politico reported.
“This is a wholly unserious budget proposal. In my role on the Appropriations CJS Subcommittee, I will fight tooth and nail against these cuts and to protect the critical work being done at NASA Goddard,” Van Hollen is quoted as saying.