The budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would be reduced by $185 million next year under a draft spending bill approved by a House Appropriations subcommittee last week. While the complete details of the proposal have yet to be publicized, a summary from the subcommittee suggested that NOAA’s climate research activities would bear the brunt of the cuts.
Funded through the House’s draft FY17 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, NOAA would receive $5.6 billion next year, $185 million below the agency’s FY16 level and $268 million below President Obama’s FY17 request. While funding recommendations for individual NOAA activities will be released later as part of the committee report that will accompany the bill, a summary published by the Appropriations Committee said the measure would fully fund NOAA’s weather forecasting satellite programs. But the summary warned these investments would be offset by reducing “funding in lower-priority NOAA activities such as climate research, ocean services, and others.”
Conversely, the Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee last month would provide NOAA with $5.7 billion while delivering level funding to the Regional Climate Data and Information program and other climate research initiatives.
The full House Appropriations Committee could consider the spending bill as early as this week, and it is likely to receive a vote on the House floor soon after.