Several dozen people protested in downtown Cleveland Saturday, opposing the potential cuts of hundreds of employees at NASA Glenn Research Center in the federal budget.
President Donald Trump’s proposal for the NASA budget suggests cutting 554 civil service employees at the research center located near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The center had an estimated 1,391 civil servants as of the current fiscal year, according to the budget proposal, meaning a cut of almost 40%.
Protest organizer Cathy Molyneaux, with the advocacy group Stand Up for Science Cleveland said the center is important to the Cleveland area.
"NASA Glenn contributes about two billion in economic activity in the area,” Molyneaux explained. "For every NASA job that is directly employed there, you have ancillary jobs that generally are two or three other jobs that it creates. So it's going to be a pretty drastic cut, and it's gonna affect the economic productivity of the Cleveland area.”
Sean Currie, a civil servant at NASA Glenn, stopped by the protest Saturday. He works in a division that supports NASA Glenn's Icing Research Tunnel, as well a wide variety of research on aeronautics, from new fuels to acoustics on airplanes.
"Every commercial plane that you've probably ever flown on was tested at the (Icing Research Tunnel) in some way or form to prevent aircraft icing, (testing) anti-icing or de-icing capabilities so you don't crash, so, it's a significant piece," he said.
Currie said there's a significant amount of research innovation that comes out of NASA Glenn and the related Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, research that isn't coming out of the private sector. While he's worried for his job, he said he's also worried about the loss of research in important areas of aeronautics and space travel.
"Beyond the jobs, it's the science. It's the importance of the mission," Currie said.
Tom Ratvasky, an icing researcher who recently retired from NASA Glenn after 35 years, held a sign at the protest reading "Cleveland... we have a problem" and calling on lawmakers to halt the cuts.
"Please, please don't do it, please recognize the value of the people that you have at NASA, but not only just at NASA but all the civil servants that are being affected by the so-called Big Beautiful Bill," Ratvasky said. "It's a very damaging bill to the people that have been dedicated in their civil servant careers to helping, whether it be NASA, the Social Security, the Department of Defense."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno told WEWS-TV in early June that the budget as modified by the Senate will be "more favorable" to NASA Glenn. His office, when reached Tuesday, pointed to his comments to WEWS.
"We have amazing resources at NASA Glenn, and we're going to beef up those resources," Moreno said. "We're going to add functionality to NASA Glenn. It's been a center that's been around even before NASA was created, and we're going to make certain it has got a long thriving future."
U.S. Rep. Max Miller's office did not respond to several requests for comment. Miller has previously joined Gov. Mike DeWine and other state and federal elected officials in calling for NASA's headquarters to be moved to Cleveland.
Overall, Trump's proposed budget and the version approved by the U.S. House in late May call for cutting NASA's workforce by a third, and its science funding almost by half. Lawmakers have said they hope to have the bill on the president's desk by July 4.
Baiju Shah, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, in a statement said the region's chamber of commerce is concerned about cuts to NASA Glenn.
"NASA Glenn is an innovation engine and powerhouse for the region and country," Shah said. "We are deeply concerned about proposals that could both jeopardize jobs in our region and the center's ability to fulfill its mission. Glenn is the agency's leader in power and propulsion, nuclear technologies, and space communications. GCP and our partners will continue to meet with federal officials to advocate for NASA Glenn throughout the federal budget discussion."
