NOAA Nominee Claims Critical Services Like Weather Forecasting Won’t Suffer Under Trump’s Proposed 27% Budget Cut. Cantwell: “I Think We’re In A Disagreement.”
Proposed NOAA head voiced support for Trump budget that would cut $2.2B from lifesaving agency, eliminate research arm
WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, questioned Dr. Neil Jacobs, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), about his plans to preserve the agency’s crucial weather forecasting, research, fisheries management, and other core functions in the face of an administration that continues to hack away at NOAA’s budget, workforce, and programs.
President Trump’s proposed budget would cut $2.2 billion from the agency and eliminate NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), which is NOAA’s R&D arm that performs and coordinates weather, climate, and other core research. That research directly impacts NOAA’s ability to predict and respond to extreme weather events, enabling the agency to develop better forecasting technology and issue earlier warnings for natural disasters.
NOAA is responsible for studying and monitoring the ocean and atmosphere, weather forecasting including the National Weather Service, coastal habitat restoration, conservation of marine protected species such as salmon and orcas, and managing our nation’s fisheries.
"NOAA does play an incredibly important role in preserving life and property," Sen. Cantwell said in her opening remarks. "I'm going to ask today about the cuts to NOAA -- and how, as a science agency, you preserve the core mission of an agency when we're cutting so much of the science and the science budget."
"The budget eliminates the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research R&D arm, which is critical to improving lead times and accuracy of information. NOAA’s R&D is at the cutting edge of science and projects like Warn-on-Forecast, which will give communities more notice about tornadoes and other severe weather events by using prediction models instead of waiting to detect weather," Sen. Cantwell continued.
"While the Administration seeks to slash NOAA’s budget, it has also taken a sledgehammer to its workforce. Since the start of the year, NOAA’s workforce has been gutted by 2,000 employees. The agency currently has over 3,000 vacant positions, most of which cannot be filled due to the hiring freeze. For example, Pendleton, Oregon, the forecast office serving Central Washington, no longer has 24/7 local coverage because of their 44% vacancy rate. And in my opinion, that is unacceptable in the height of fire season."
During a later Q&A portion, Sen. Cantwell pressed Dr. Jacobs on how, exactly, he plans to preserve and advance the lifesaving core functions of NOAA – including critical research that keeps the United States at the forefront of weather forecasting technology – with no R&D arm, thousands of positions unfilled in the hiring freeze or axed altogether, and a multi-billion dollar budget cut.
“You said you supported the 27% budget cut to NOAA. Is that correct? So how do you keep your science mission, and particularly in atmospheric and oceanic areas? How do you keep that science mission if we're cutting that budget?” Sen. Cantwell asked.
“It's a lot of these priorities, particularly, you know, weather forecasting and things we've been discussing all day, some of that's being transferred to the weather service. It's my hope for certain things that that we're looking at to basically fulfill the mission requirements of the forecasting capabilities that the weather service takes over a lot of that, some other aspects transfer to the ocean service,” Dr. Jacobs responded.
Sen. Cantwell: “Okay, so you think that the missions are going to be preserved, just preserved somewhere else.”
Dr. Jacobs: “I mean, yes, that's, it's my objective to make sure that NOAA fulfills their mission requirements.”
Under the Trump Administration’s proposal, most of the programs run by the OAR will not be transferred to the National Weather Service; a list of programs on the chopping block is HERE.
“I think we're in a disagreement on this. I think we like this office. I don't think we want to be zeroed out. We think it's the key to NOAA doing its job overall,” Sen. Cantwell said. “And I get [that] you’re nominees by this administration, so you're going to generally agree with their budget. We disagree with it. But I think more importantly, let's look at these programs that are going to be cut […] I have serious concerns about our ability to do the job.”
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s opening remarks is HERE; video of her first round of questioning is HERE; and video of her second round of questioning is HERE. A transcript is HERE.
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