NWS facing budget cuts

[John Farley]

I hope I am not in trouble for posting something political, but since this affects access to weather data, this message from WeatherUnderground seems appropriate for our list, so I am sharing:

PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST:

From WeatherUnderground.com - Dr. jeff Masters:

Senate vote Tuesday may significantly cut NOAA funding


I urge all of you who value the services provided by the National Weather Service and their parent organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to contact your two Senators and ask them to vote against the Senator Hutchison (R-TX) Amendment #2666 to the Commerce State Justice Appropriations Act for 2010 H.R. 2847.

http://senate.gov/general/contact_infor ... e&Sort=ASC

This amendment will be voted on this Tuesday, October 13, by the Senate, and would cut the NOAA budget by $172 million. The funds would be diverted to the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, to increase its budget by 75%.

While I'm sure the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is a worthy program to support, Congress should find a different way to fund this program. NOAA's total budget is about $4 billion, and the National Weather Service Budget is a little less than $1 billion.

The only place where NOAA has the flexibility to absorb the proposed cuts would be in the satellite program. With the QuickSCAT satellite likely to fail in the next few months, and the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite also nearing its demise, the last thing we should be doing is cutting NOAA's budget in time when our capability to observe the weather from space is suffering from serious degradation.

Here's the language of the bill, and the proposed amendments:

SA 2666. Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. KYL, and Mr. MCCAIN) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 2847, making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 170, between lines 19 and 20, insert the following:

SEC. 220. INCREASE IN STATE CRIMINAL ALIEN ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FUNDING.

(a) In General.--For an additional amount under the heading ``STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE'' under the heading ``Office of Justice Programs'' under this title, there is appropriated, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, $172,000,000 for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, as authorized by section 241(i)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1231(i)(5)).

(b) Offset.--The total amount appropriated under the heading ``OPERATIONS, RESEARCH, AND FACILITIES'' under the heading ``National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration'' under title I is reduced by $172,000,000.

The National Weather Service Employees Organization has put out a press release with more details.

FORECASTERS WARN OF CRIPPLING CUTS TO
WEATHER SERVICES IN TUESDAY'S SENATE VOTE

Washington DC (October 9, 2009) - The union that represents the meteorologists at the National Weather Service warns that their ability to
forecast the weather and warn of severe storms will be crippled if an amendment proposed by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is approved by the Senate next Tuesday, October 13, 2009......

".....National Weather Service forecast offices are now at bare bones staffing and the current generation of weather satellites are past their life cycle. We are at a critical failure point and lives will be lost if we have to cut back on any of our staffing or infrastructure," said Dan Sobien, a Lead Forecaster at the Tampa, Florida Forecast Office and President of the National Weather Service Employees Organization......"

".....The amendment will cut funding for the 122 National Weather Service Forecast Offices nationwide, the National Hurricane Center in Miami and the Severe Storms Prediction Center in Oklahoma, which issues warnings of severe thunderstorms and tornados. Due to current underfunding, there are only two forecasters on duty at most forecast offices - which may be responsible for issuing forecasts and severe weather warnings for one or more states - at any given time. The cuts will also set back the development and launch of the next generation of weather satellites, which is already three years overdue....."

"........"The proposed increase in alien law enforcement programs would benefit primarily a handful of border states, but it will come at a cost of protecting the lives of the people of not only those states, but of the entire country. The United States has more diverse and severe weather than any country in the world. Thousands of lives are saved each year as a result of tornado, thunderstorm, hurricane and flood warnings issued by the National Weather Service," said Sobien."

 

[Jeff Duda]

One thing this will for sure result in is an even lower chance of a person like myself (finishing school soon and interested in a career in operational meteorology) getting a job anytime soon after graduating. It's already hard enough as it is, now with less money, there will be less jobs. Can't say it doesn't surprise me.

I will have to decide soon whether to keep going after getting my M.S. as a PhD candidate or trying to find a job. This is a push in the PhD direction.

 

[Patrick Marsh]

As frightening as this sounds, it has almost 0 chance of being passed in the House, and maybe only slightly better odds in the Senate.

The four senators who have sponsored this legislation are all from border states, and more importantly, are Republican. With no Democratic co-sponsors and no Republican leadership signing on, what this really sounds like is political posturing by the four - especially Ms. Hutchinson. She is allegedly running against an incumbent Republican in the Texas Gubernatorial primary, and this sounds like nothing more than attempt for her to say, "See, I care about illegal immigration, and I've attempted to do something about it."

 

[Buddy W Bradley]

What a b-i-a-t-c-h! The weather technology is alot more critical to this country than alien assistance. I agree w you Patrick. I'm not saying that funding to NOAA won't be cut at all during these economic times, but the chances of this bill passing are slim to none!

 

[Jay McCoy]

The problem is this isnt a bill in itself just a rider or amendment to a much larger appropriations bill. Many of the congressmen might not even notice the change. Thats how all those prok barrel projects also get added in. They go over the general big picture of the bill but dont always dive into all the small amendments added in so this could easily slip through the cracks if it isnt brought to their attention.

And yes it is true this B^%$% is running for governor of Texas against Perry. I am not trying to be political but she has done jack***** for Texas as a Senator except pad her own ego. And now leaving in the middle of her term to run for Governor. I always hate that. I think anybody should have to finish their term they were elected to before they can run for something else. Make it a law. Now it will cost tax payers millions more for a special election. I dont think McCain or Obama should have been allowed to also until they finished their term. Look at the fallout it caused in Illinois..lol.

 

[Keith Mullen]

Never underestimate the power of tacking on an additional provision in the later stages of the legislative process. McCoy is correct in assuming that the probability of this even being noticed or debated in the decision making process is very, very low.

You have ample right to be concerned.

 

[Stephen Levine]

Perhaps a solution, if you are up to it, is to engage in a massive letter - writing, calling or e-mail sending off to Congress. The note would give them a heads-up to this rider and speak out against it.

 

[Greg Blumberg]

If I am correct, I believe that the voting happens tomorrow for this amendment. I second Stephen's idea for the massive letter.

 

[beaudodson]

If the vote happens tomorrow then it sounds like it is too late.

 

[Joshua Nall]

What a b-i-a-t-c-h! The weather technology is alot more critical to this country than alien assistance. I agree w you Patrick. I'm not saying that funding to NOAA won't be cut at all during these economic times, but the chances of this bill passing are slim to none!

"Alien assistance"??? I realize that is the language in the bill but that is misleading. The money would go to law enforcement that are having to deal with illegals, am I right or am I misunderstanding it? I don't want to see funding cut, but there will have to be cuts somewhere. My fear is there will be more money poured into the problem of illegal immigration and we won't have anything to show for it. Stopping illegal immigration is much more critical to this country in the long run than weather technology. OK now you can beat me on the head But even if I was employed with the NOAA I would still feel the same. Look at some of the projections and studies on how much illegal immigration is costing. 10.5 billion currently, just for California to provide education and health services etc... to illegals. That's enough to more than triple funding to the NOAA. Federal and state governments are blowing all kinds of money on illegals, your money.

Josh

 

[Paul Hadfield]

Cross train weather service employees to serve as border patrol during down times like the entire 09 season. Nothing more intimidating than a man carrying a pistol in one hand and an anemometer in the other!

 

[Chris Hayes]

I'm a person who hates cutting money to the military, national science foundation, NOAA, and other gov't programs, but with a 1.4 and rising trillion dollar deficit spending cuts are necessary. Sad thing is, thats not what's going to be done. However, since there has been no debate on this subject, this cut probably will come. Not something I want to see happen, but most politicians dont care because most voters wont know it happened and wont notice any difference (wont affect the handouts in their pockets).

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Hopefully somebody can keep us updated on how the vote goes later on today... But, one thing that may ease a few minds is that these cuts will most likely not mean job losses, etc. within NOAA. Although this is a large cut into their budget, realize that research makes up the majority of the budget and thus it will take the brunt of this budget cut. According to most of the NWS/NOAA sources it sounds like if this were to happen that the satellite program will have to absorb the cut. Of course we don't want this to happen, but I wouldn't be concerned about job losses if this budget cut really does happen. The NWS has been frozen on adding jobs for several years now, so the job market has been tough and will just remain tough regardless of this budget cut.

 

[Mike Deep]

illegal immigration is much more critical to this country in the long run than weather technology. OK now you can beat me on the head

...Really? A few Mexicans coming over here and picking lettuce is a more serious threat than, say, a major hurricane making landfall, killing people and costing billions in damage?

Okay, yes, I'm aware of the increasing cartel violence on the other side of the border, etc etc. It's definitely cause for concern. But cut funding somewhere else. There are probably hundreds of things more deserving of losing funding than NOAA. The NWS is quite literally a matter of "national security."

 

[Jesse Risley]

As of today the bill is still on the floor of the Senate awaiting final action.
Senators have failed to invoke cloture on the act by a 57-37 vote (60 votes are needed to pass a cloture motion).

The cloture vote actually took place on the Senate substitute amendment which is being inserted in place of the House text.