George Mason University is an institutional member of the Consortium of Social Science Association (COSSA), a nonprofit advocacy organization that works to promote and advance the social and behavioral sciences in federal policy making and funding. Mason employees can subscribe to receive timely updates on developments impacting the social and behavioral sciences, analysis of pending legislation and agency policies, action alerts, and gain access to members-only resources and events like webinars, training, and opportunities to engage with policymakers.
An in-person engagement opportunity is scheduled for March 23-24, 2026 in Washington, D.C. as part of COSSA’s 2026 Social Science Advocacy Day. Social Science Advocacy Day brings together social and behavioral scientists and science advocates from across the country to engage with Congressional policymakers about issues important to our community. CHSS faculty interested in attending advocacy day events should contact Michele Schwietz (mschwiet@gmu.edu).
Another engagement opportunity is COSSA’s invitation to Share Your Story as a way to illustrate the value of the social and behavioral sciences to Congress, the White House, Executive Branch agencies, and the public. Any stories used by COSSA will be anonymized and used anecdotally.
COSSA also provides pertinent information on federal legislation and funding for social and behavioral science research. An important offering from COSSA is their recent analysis of two funding bills that are now signed into law. Their Analysis of the Final FY2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Bill includes the appropriation for the National Institutes of Health of $47.2 billion, maintains NIH's current structure and provides notable report language related to indirect cost rates and multi-year funding. The Analysis of the Final FY 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Bill provides funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) with an appropriation of $8.75 billion. The final bills for FY2026 largely rejected the President's proposal for cuts to several key scientific agencies including NIH and NSF.
With the passage of the latest funding package, the FY2026 appropriation is nearly complete with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security funding. Attention is turning to the FY2027 budget. The Trump Administration is expected to release its budget request sometime this spring and Congress will start holding hearings with administration officials to testify on their budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year as well as solicitating requests from individual Members or Senators regarding their appropriations priorities.
COSSA also provides a list of President Trump Executive Actions. In news related to research, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the annual memorandum in September outlining the Trump Administration’s research and development priorities for fiscal year (FY)2027, which is intended to inform the development of agencies’ FY2027 budget requests. The administration’s proposed budgetary priorities include critical and emerging technologies, such as AI, Energy, American Security, American Health and Biotechnology, and Space Dominance.
February 13, 2026