Vice Chairwoman Mikulski Announces Increased Support for Knowing our Planet, Protecting Lives and Livelihoods

Press Release

U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced the fiscal year (FY) 2017 CJS spending bill provides increased funding to monitor and predict changes in our ocean, weather and climate.

In the next step of the appropriations process, the bill will move to the Senate floor for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled.

"One-third of U.S. GDP is affected by climate and weather - from farmers trying to protect livestock and crops, to cities relying on energy from wind turbines and solar panels, to air travelers trying to get home safely and on time through storms," Senator Mikulski said. "That is why this bill increases federal investment to make American weather prediction and American models the gold standard."

Forecasters rely on science to warn us of devastating storms, saving lives and property. In 2015 alone, the U.S. saw 10 weather events costing at least $1 billion each, including droughts, wildfires, snow storms, hurricanes and floods.

Senator Mikulski, who has stood sentry over our nation's weather infrastructure, fought to include a significant federal investment in research and technology development that are critical to our understanding and prediction of changes in the Earth's weather, climate and oceans.

A world class weather service depends on other ocean and atmospheric observations, data and research to understand our planet and predict the weather with greater precision. That's why this bill supports a balanced National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded at $5.69 billion along with $5.4 billion of balanced funding for NASA Science, including:

$1.92 billion to keep NOAA's weather satellites on track and on budget, because our nation needs these important early warning tools to help save lives and livelihoods. This includes funding for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, Joint Polar Satellite System and the Polar Follow-On programs.

$1.14 billion for NOAA's National Weather Service so that our nation's forecasting offices will be fully staffed and ready to issue severe weather warnings. This funding will help improve severe weather forecasts, modernize weather warning communications, strengthen tsunami warnings and maintain radars and other weather technology.

$480 million for NOAA Research for ocean, weather and climate research, which includes designing our next generation of radar systems, understanding the impacts of ocean acidification and creating more accurate hurricane models and drought forecasts.

$526 million for NOAA's National Ocean Service to fully fund navigation services to keep our ports open for commerce and safe for maritime traffic. The bill also supports work to improve storm surge models, forecast harmful algae blooms and clean up marine debris.

$1.98 billion for NASA Earth Science to fund critical Earth science satellite missions that measure our ice sheets, climate and atmosphere so we can better predict changes to our planet.

$679 million for NASA Heliophysics to explore how the sun affects the Earth to help predict and provide warnings about space weather events that can knock out our communications and power grids, like solar flares.

Source