Schatz fights Trump-backed NOAA staffing cuts

WASHINGTON >> Members of Congress are expressing renewed support for the nation’s weather forecasting system after deadly flooding in Texas and elsewhere put the focus on cuts within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Trump administration proposed cutting NOAA’s fiscal 2026 budget to $4.5 billion — a 27%, nearly $1.7 billion reduction from the estimated fiscal 2025 spending.

But Senate appropriators from both parties highlighted the importance of NOAA, and particularly the National Weather Service housed within it, in a meeting last week.

During the Senate Appropriations Committee’s markup of its draft fiscal 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science bill on July 10, Subcommittee Chair Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said the bill would spare the NWS from the proposed cuts.

“NOAA, and particularly the National Weather Service, is a hugely important component of what this bill funds, and this bill recognizes that importance,” said Moran, adding that the “bill fully funds the (NWS) for purposes of employing people who work” and eliminates any reduction in the workforce.

Moran said the language would require the Trump administration to maintain staffing at levels necessary to fill statutory obligations and would increase the appropriation by $10 million to accomplish that goal. Moran didn’t provide a topline figure and the committee hasn’t yet released its draft text or bill summary.

Sen Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, expressed concern that the bill still gave too much discretion to the Office of Management and Budget to determine whether the agency has too many employees. He offered an amendment that would require the administration to maintain staffing at the same levels as they were on Sept. 30, 2024. The panel rejected the amendment along party lines.

“It’s clear to me that this administration has already made the judgment that the National Weather Service has too many human beings,” said Schatz.

The committee ultimately didn’t complete work on the bill last week due to an unrelated disagreement over the future of a proposed FBI campus in Maryland.

House Republicans, meanwhile, released their version of the fiscal 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill on Monday. The bill includes a cut of $387 million, or 6%, for NOAA, taking its budget to $5.8 billion in fiscal 2026, according to the GOP summary.

The House C-J-S Appropriations Subcommittee approved the measure for full committee consideration on a 9-6 vote today.

Staffing ‘a top priority’

The issue of staffing at NOAA also came up in the confirmation hearing for Neil Jacobs, Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA, in the Senate Commerce Committee on July 10. Ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said NOAA has lost nearly 1,900 employees, with 3,000 vacancies due to firings of probationary employees and buyouts, since Trump took office.

“If confirmed, I will ensure that staffing the weather service offices is a top priority,” said Jacobs. “It’s really important for the people to be there because they have relationships with the people in the local community. They’re a trusted source.”

Jacobs said he supported the administration’s proposal to cut NOAA’s budget by 27% in fiscal 2026, adding the cuts could be implemented by shifting work from the research to operations without impacting “mission essential functions” at the NWS.

Monica Medina, principal deputy secretary for oceans and atmosphere at NOAA during the Obama administration and now a distinguished fellow with the environmental group Conservation International, said cuts to research would have significant implications for operations.

“Artificial intelligence is only as good as the data you put in it,” Medina said in an interview. “We need science and research and data to inform our weather forecasts now and in the future, and what we’re doing is taking apart a system that was getting better and better and better, and putting ourselves at greater risk. And the impact on people is real and the forecast will be less accurate.”