Protestors denounce cuts to NASA’s staff, budget and union rights

Individuals wearing space-themed socks and carrying signs inspired by the “Star Wars” movies gathered outside of NASA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters on Monday to protest workforce reductions and proposed budget cuts at America’s space agency. 

Several of the roughly two dozen protestors specifically criticized an Aug. 28 executive order by President Donald Trump to cancel collective bargaining agreements at multiple federal agencies, including NASA, under the auspices of national security. 

Monica Gorman — area vice president of Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association, which represents employees at the space flight center in Maryland — argued that removing union protections could make employees less likely to “bring up inconvenient concerns.” 

In her role as an operations research analyst, Gorman said that it’s important for her cost and schedule estimates to be free from pressure or retaliation. 

“A huge part of the reason that I have that independence, and that my colleagues do, is that as a union-represented worker I know that I am protected from unfair retaliation,” Gorman said in a speech to the crowd. “I can't get in trouble arbitrarily when I have union rights. And now the Trump administration says I don't have union rights anymore, and that's supposed to make us work more efficiently. That's just going to make all of us less safe.”

Trump terminated collective bargaining at NASA and five other agencies last month, expanding the scope of a March executive order that already removed the labor practice across two-thirds of the federal government by citing a national security provision in federal labor law. 

International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers President Matthew Biggs, who leads the largest union representing NASA employees, said that an ongoing lawsuit against the termination of collective bargaining at other agencies would soon include NASA. 

“This administration can think they're going to eliminate our unions. They're not going to eliminate us. We're going to continue to represent our members,” Biggs said. “We're going nowhere.” 

Many of Monday’s speakers, who delivered their remarks amid the periodic blaring of supportive car honking, also urged Congress to include provisions preventing impoundments in any deal to avoid a government shutdown after Sept. 30 when current funding expires. 

Since the start of Trump’s second term, the Government Accountability Office has determined there have been six instances of impoundments, the most recent of which was announced on Monday. The watchdog, which adjudicates the lawfulness of impoundments, has dozens of more open investigations into potential impoundments. 

“We want Congress to pass a fighting [continuing resolution] that does not only keep the lights on, but includes checks on this administration’s authoritarian overreach and protections for our institutions…and provides protections for federal workers and due process and civil liberties,” said Mollie Manier, a National Institutes of Health employee who spoke at the protest in her personal capacity. “We're urging Congress to insist on a fighting CR for the long-term benefit of this nation, and we as federal workers are willing to suffer some short-term pain to get it. We do not want a shutdown. But we would rather have a shutdown than the continued dismantling of our institutions and destruction of our public goods that are causing harm to the American people.”

The Trump administration is in the process of nixing $4.9 billion in congressionally authorized foreign assistance funding through a “pocket rescission.” Under that action, the executive branch issues a request to withhold funding shortly before the end of the fiscal year, effectively letting it expire before Congress can consider the request. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought also has disagreed with the GAO’s impoundment determinations, countering that the spending is being reviewed before distribution. 

Multiple media outlets have reported that NASA has lost nearly 4,000 employees, about 20% of its workforce, due to the deferred resignation program. 

Trump requested $18.8 billion for NASA for fiscal 2026, which would represent a 24% cut. Congressional appropriators, however, have rejected that request.

The House version of the appropriations bill that includes NASA funding, which was approved in committee, would maintain the agency’s current level of spending at $24.8 billion. The Senate iteration, which also advanced in committee, would increase that amount slightly to $24.9 billion. 

In response to a request for comment regarding the protestors’ concerns about NASA’s staffing, budget and union rights, an agency spokesperson responded that the agency was not affiliated with the demonstration and questions about it should be directed to the protest organizers or the Metropolitan Police Department, which approved the event.