While cuts to arts funding and grants have drawn widespread outrage in the art world, a little-publicized clause in President Donald Trump’s omnibus tax-and-spending package—the so‑called “Big Beautiful Bill”—will have a more direct effect on Washington, D.C.’s National Air and Space Museum, especially its Udvar‑Hazy Center.
The provision requires the Smithsonian to transfer a “space vehicle” to NASA, a move widely understood to target the Discovery space shuttle, which has been on display at the Steven F. Udvar‑Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, since 2012. It mandates that the move be completed no later than January 4, 2027.
The move is the latest attempt by Republicans and the Trump Administration to dictate the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, a museum network of numerous major institutions, primarily in Washington, D.C.
The provision found its way into the bill after Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz introduced the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act” in April, aiming to relocate Discovery to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. That proposed bill stalled in committee, but its main provisions were folded into the larger reconciliation bill—officially titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1). Trump signed the bill into law on July 4.
To comply with Senate reconciliation rules, the text refers only to a “space vehicle” (not Discovery by name) to be selected by the NASA administrator. It allocates $85 million toward the move, with $5 million for planning and transportation and the remainder earmarked for construction of a new exhibition facility in Houston.
The Smithsonian maintains that it fully owns Discovery, having received “all rights, title, interest and ownership” from NASA in 2012, following a decision made in 2011 to send Discovery to the Institution’s Udvar‑Hazy Center.
“This is not a transfer, it’s a heist—a heist by Texas because they lost the competition 12 years ago,” Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said during a hearing earlier this month, before withdrawing an amendment titled “Houston, We Have a Problem.”
The Smithsonian been under fire for months from the Trump administration, which has accused its museums of promoting “improper ideology” in an executive order. That executive order singled out shows at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In May, the administration claimed to fire Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery; the Smithsonian responded by saying that it is independent and that personnel decisions fall under the authority of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, with oversight by the Board of Regents. Sajet initially continued working before stepping down.
The bill also cuts overall Smithsonian funding by about 12 percent and eliminates dedicated funding for the long‑planned National Museum of the American Latino, reducing its staff from about 35 to six. The Anacostia Community Museum, meanwhile, is slated to be merged into the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
