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Yes. Congress controls federal spending through appropriations laws, which can specify an agency’s funding amount, account, purpose, recipients, and period of availability. The National Science Foundation (NSF) must execute its budget within those terms. Whether it can shift funds—and what notice or approval is required—depends on the law for the specific fiscal year. A reported $1.4 billion NSF carryover at the end of fiscal year 2026 has prompted questions about congressional intent, but the reporting available here does not establish that the money was transferred to another purpose or resolve whether the carryover complied with the law.

How can Congress direct NSF spending?

Congress directs federal spending by enacting appropriations. The law determines how much budget authority is available, which account receives it, what purposes it may support, and when it may be used. The more specifically Congress identifies a project or recipient, the less discretion an agency generally has over where that designated funding goes.

Not every appropriation names individual grants. A broad appropriation to an NSF account still constrains the agency through its statutory purpose, availability period, and any applicable reallocation rules; it does not necessarily instruct NSF to select a particular proposal. In its 2022 report on Community Project Funding and Congressionally Directed Spending, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) described appropriations that designated amounts for specific recipients and projects, with agencies directed to distribute the funds accordingly. GAO reported $9.1 billion for 4,963 such projects government-wide in fiscal year 2022; those figures are not NSF-specific.

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Congress may also establish procedures for changing how appropriated funds are used. Those procedures are not interchangeable across years: the controlling text is the enacted law and any applicable directions for the fiscal year in question.

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What happens when NSF reallocates funding?

“Reallocation” can refer to different budget actions. The key first question is whether funds stay within the same appropriation or move to another one.

Action What changes What to check
Reprogramming Funds shift within one appropriation account among programs, projects, or activities. Whether the applicable appropriations act requires notice to committees or sets other limits.
Transfer Budget authority moves between appropriations. Whether the act authorizes the transfer, caps its amount, and imposes procedures or approval requirements.
Carryover Unobligated funds remain available into a later period when the appropriation’s availability terms permit it. The account’s period of availability, purpose restrictions, and whether the funds were later obligated or formally shifted.

GAO’s 2023 explanation says agencies may generally reprogram appropriated funds without separate statutory authority, but appropriations acts often require notice to appropriations committees, authorizing committees, or both. The law for the particular appropriation determines the limits. A transfer is a different action because it moves budget authority between appropriations and requires the applicable legal authority.

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Why an old percentage limit is not a current rule

For fiscal year 2021, Public Law 116-260 allowed transfers of no more than 5% of an NSF appropriation between NSF appropriations, limited an appropriation’s increase from transfers to 10%, and subjected each transfer to section 505 reprogramming procedures. Those were terms of that fiscal-year law, not permanent limits that can be assumed to govern NSF funding in other years.

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What does a recent NSF reallocation example show?

GAO’s 2026 report describes a May 2025 NSF request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) addressing a shortfall in Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC). NSF sought to reprogram prior-year carryover within MREFC and transfer funds from other accounts; OMB approved the request in June 2025. The example shows that carryover, reprogramming, and transfers can feature in the same budget action. It does not establish a general permission for NSF to use those mechanisms in any year: the operative law and required procedures still matter.

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GAO reports the following MREFC appropriations for fiscal years 2020–2024. These are account-specific figures, not NSF-wide totals; GAO notes that they reflect supplemental appropriations, transfers, and reprogramming.

Fiscal year MREFC appropriations reported by GAO
2020 $243.2 million
2021 $301.0 million
2022 $265.5 million
2023 $187.2 million
2024 $234.0 million

Across those five fiscal years, GAO reports more than $1 billion in MREFC appropriations.

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Can NSF carry over money Congress appropriated?

That depends on the appropriation’s period of availability and any purpose or other restrictions. A balance that remains available under a multi-year appropriation is not necessarily a transfer to another account, nor does carryover by itself show that the funds have been spent on a different purpose. To assess a particular balance, distinguish the money’s continued availability from any later decision about how to obligate it.

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An NSF FY 2026 budget page identifies a $3.9 billion request released May 2, 2025. That is a budget request, not an enacted appropriation, and by itself does not establish the availability terms for funds discussed in the FY 2026 carryover dispute.

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What is established about the reported $1.4 billion FY 2026 carryover?

A September 30, 2026 secondary account of reporting by The New York Times said NSF ended FY 2026 with $1.4 billion in unspent research funding carried over. It described that amount as about 19% of NSF’s primary research budget and said less than $175 million went unspent in each of the prior two fiscal years. The account attributed the figures to internal agency data reviewed by the Times. They should be treated as reported figures, not as independently verified GAO or NSF totals.

The same account said NSF and the White House maintained that the money remained available in the new fiscal year under Congress’s two-year appropriation. It also reported that some proposals recommended for funding were pulled back as deadlines approached and that the administration wanted to direct money toward a narrower set of priorities, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Those are attributed claims, not findings that settle whether any specific action was lawful.

A separate October 2, 2026 secondary report attributed criticism to Representative Zoe Lofgren, the top Democrat on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. She said: “The money should be granted as Congress intended, and essentially, they’re ignoring what Congress did.” That statement reflects her criticism; it is not a legal determination.

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The available reporting does not establish the full legal treatment of the balance, whether it was apportioned or obligated to narrower priorities, or whether its carryover violated a statutory direction. Calling it “diverted” goes beyond what the reported carryover alone proves. Resolving the dispute requires the enacted FY 2026 appropriations text, account-level availability and purpose restrictions, any applicable committee or explanatory-statement directions, NSF and OMB apportionment and obligation records, relevant reprogramming notices, and any subsequent oversight or court findings.

How to evaluate a claim that NSF redirected funding

When a news report says NSF “reallocated,” “diverted,” or “carried over” money, these questions help identify what actually happened:

  • How specific was Congress’s direction? Was the money broadly appropriated to an account, or designated for a named recipient or project?
  • Did the money change accounts? A shift within an account is reprogramming; a move between appropriations is a transfer.
  • What did the law authorize? Check the account’s purpose, period of availability, transfer authority, and any notice or approval rules for that fiscal year.
  • What does “unspent” mean in the report? A balance carried forward, a restriction on apportionment, a formal transfer, and an obligation for a new purpose are distinct things.
  • What records support the claim? Look for the appropriation text, budget and obligation records, reprogramming notices, and oversight findings rather than relying on a label alone.

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