The US Congress has got involved to rescue the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) – an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents and growing suggestions to prevent their recurrence.
The White House had proposed shutting down the CSB and eliminating its $14 million (£10 million) budget by October 2025, the official begin of fiscal year 2026. The administration had claimed that the agency ‘duplicates substantial capabilities’ within the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha). Yet many close observers keeps the CSB, which has a unique and non-regulatory function investigating chemical plant incidents, create reports and guidance that are a high-value resource.
Now, a funding invoice for 2026 that Congress surpassed and President Trump signed into law on 23 January keeps CSB funding at $14 million for the remainder of this fiscal year. This bill also prevented ruinous cuts requested by the Trump administration to main research funders like the National Science Foundation. Other setting aside bills that Trump signed into law as a part of a ‘minibus’ spending package on 23 January also spared main science agencies from high budget cuts that the president had proposed.
Since a 43-day US government shutdown finished in November 2025, the CSB – like most federal agencies – have been working beneath a ongoing resolution that kept funding at last year’s level. A 30 January closing date was about to prevent another government shutdown.
‘Congress demonstrated incredible judgement in saving the CSB from the White House’s efforts to kill it,’ states David Michaels, a former administrator of the Osha and an environmental and occupational health researcher at George Washington University. ‘CSB gives a noticeably crucial service to American industry, employees and the general public,’ Michaels goes on. ‘After explosions, fires or chemical releases, CSB investigates and attempts to decide the foundation reasons of what are regularly catastrophic events if order to prevent future ones from happening.’ The agency’s findings have cause a major safety upgrades throughout many industries and have surely prevented events that might have killed or injured big numbers of people, he adds.
Daniel Horowitz, who previously served as the CSB’s managing director and is now the legislative department director for the American Federation of Government Employees that represents CSB employees, agrees. ‘It’s really a good development that both sides in Congress endured to fund the CSB at a similar level to last year. ‘Despite longstanding funding constraints, there’s no doubt that the CSB’s investigations and outreach have saved many lives over the years and prevented needless destruction and damage to businesses and groups.’
