Democrats line up behind bill to protect NOAA offices

The legislation would halt the termination of leases or ceasing of construction.

July 22, 2025

Dozens of House Democrats are sponsoring legislation to block the Trump administration from shuttering NOAA and National Weather Service offices.

The "Stop NOAA Closures Act," from Rep. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island and Natural Resources ranking member Jared Huffman of California, would impose a moratorium on closing offices, terminating leases, stopping construction and other new limits on access.

The bill is co-sponsored by Science Space and Technology ranking member Zoe Lofgren of California and 59 other House Democrats.

It's the latest in a series of congressional actions trying to stop or slow President Donald Trump’s campaign to downsize NOAA and extinguish much of the nation’s climate science apparatus.

Appropriations bills moving through both the House and Senate have also sought to check some of the Trump administration's deepest cuts to NOAA. If passed, the Trump budget would shrink the NOAA by 27 percent, including the full elimination of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

"Let’s call this what it is: a full-blown assault on science and public safety,” Huffman said, adding that Trump’s move “to shutter NOAA facilities are dangerously irresponsible — especially as climate-fueled disasters grow more extreme, more frequent, and more costly."

Also on Monday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, penned a letter to Trump laying out a five-point plan to ensure the National Weather Service remains fiscally and operationally sound.

“There is strong support for making the generational investments necessary to become a weather ready nation that will empower Americans to get out of harm’s way,” Cantwell wrote. “It will take better weather data collection, world leading analytics, cutting edge research, modernizing alert systems, and a partnership between your Administration and Congress to pass enabling legislation."

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will vote on bipartisan legislation this week, H.R. 3816, to improve forecasting and alert capabilities.


By:  Daniel Cusick
Source: Politico Pro