Senate appropriators advanced fiscal‑2026 spending bills that largely rejected the White House’s proposed cuts to scientific research, proposing roughly $188.3 billion for science — some $33 billion more than the administration requested and modestly below 2025 levels. The committee packages bolster the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, with the NSF proposal restoring investments in AI, quantum, regional innovation and facilities and the NIH level set well above the administration’s request. The Senate votes tee up a broader spending fight as Congress nears a Jan. 30 budget deadline. For research‑heavy universities, the bills signal congressional support for federal science funding and provide temporary relief from proposed deep cuts that would have affected grant pipelines, graduate student support, and campus research infrastructure.