Ranking Member Lofgren Opening Statement for Hearing on NOAA Budget
(Washington, DC) - Today, the Subcommittee on Environment is holding a hearing titled, An Overview of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2024.
Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren's (D-CA) opening statement as prepared for the record is below.
Thank you, Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Ross for holding this important hearing on NOAA’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget request. Welcome back Dr. Spinrad, and thank you for your service and leadership at NOAA. I am looking forward to today’s discussion on NOAA’s priorities in the upcoming year.
NOAA is a critically important scientific agency that has a direct effect on the livelihood of all Americans. NOAA is tasked with helping our communities, economy, and ecosystems remain healthy and resilient. This is especially important as we continue to face the growing threat of climate change. NOAA provides critical research, products, and services necessary for our ability to understand, adapt to, and mitigate climate change effects.
I would say the budget request is a positive step forward in NOAA’s ability to accomplish its mission. However, I would be remiss to not mention the proposed 22 percent budget cut for civilian agencies that passed the House a couple of weeks ago as part of Speaker McCarthy’s debt limit scheme. Anything even approaching that cut, or the 10 year flat-lining of agencies also proposed, would devastate NOAA’s ability to provide life-saving and economy-saving weather forecasting and climate services.
I am eager to learn from you, Administrator Spinrad, about how these irresponsible cuts would affect NOAA and the services it provides. We have learned that one of the primary reasons the U.S. lags behind our international counterparts in severe weather forecasting is due to NOAA’s access to high-performance computing and its investment in data assimilation being a step behind. Also, as we have seen ever more severe weather events with significant impacts, including this past winter’s devasting flooding and loss of life in California due to atmospheric rivers, NOAA’s forecasts and warnings are needed now, more than ever. How would these suggested budget cuts reduce the progress of bettering our forecasts and preparing our communities for climate change? These are just a few questions that need to be answered to understand how these cuts would affect our communities.
The President’s budget request, on the other hand, contains a number of programs and activities that will expand NOAA’s capabilities and increase the resiliency of communities. One important investment for the future of NOAA’s observational capabilities is the increased funding request for the next generation of weather satellites. The data collected by NOAA’s weather satellites make up the backbone of NOAA’s weather prediction capabilities and support weather forecasting activities around the globe. NOAA is working diligently to update the national civilian weather satellite system to ensure increased capabilities and continuity of accurate and reliable forecasts and warnings. NOAA is actively assessing future capabilities and working toward a more nimble satellite system in the Near Earth Orbit Network. I look forward to learning more about these efforts in today’s discussion.
As we look ahead at the future of NOAA, I look forward to working with Chairman Lucas and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to continue to focus on identifying and investing in the necessary solutions to address severe weather and the threat of climate change.
I yield back.
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