2026 has been just as consequential a year for science policy as 2025. Despite attempts to dismantle infrastructure from NCAR to the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), circumvent peer review through OMB rulemaking, and broadly politicize science, our community has once again risen to the challenge. Almost 200 AGU members came to Washington, D.C. to meet with their legislators in the first half of the year. Through our online engagement system, our community has collectively called or emailed their legislators or commented on an agency proposal 23,810 times in the first half of 2026 alone.

June 2026 Congressional Visits Day

Together, we’ve protected key facets of the scientific enterprise: preventing billions of dollars in cuts to federal Earth and space agency funding, halting the dismantlement of NCAR and the OOI, and stopping the elimination of federal climate offices and programs. Recognizing that who we put in office shapes policy, hundreds of you have engaged in our Science Votes the Future efforts—checking your voter registration, using the resources on our site, joining our webinars, and, most importantly, registering to vote.

Although more challenges, disruptions, and efforts to handicap science are likely on the horizon, looking back at all that our community faced and overcame in the first six months of 2026 brings a lot of optimism.

Our next series of blog posts will dive deeper into some of our collective wins and their importance from the perspective of AGU’s Science Policy and Government Relations staff.