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9h ago

Bipartisan Lawmakers Move to Shield NCAR From White House Breakup Plan

Bipartisan resistance in Congress leaves the plan’s timing and mechanics unresolved.

This Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, 1:10 p.m. EDT satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Hilary, right, off Mexico's Pacific coast. Scientists figure a natural El Nino, human-caused climate change, a stubborn heat dome over the nation’s midsection and other factors cooked up Hilary’s record-breaking slosh into California and Nevada. (NOAA via AP)
The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, in August 2016. Russell Vought, the White House budget director, called the laboratory a source of “climate alarmism” that will be taken apart. (Caine Delacy/The New York Times)
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Overview

  • Eighty members of Congress, including Republicans Jeff Hurd, Jay Obernolte, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Jack Bergman, urged appropriators to sustain funding for the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
  • Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper placed holds on funding bills to protest the move, sending the Senate home without advancing the package.
  • OMB Director Russell Vought announced the administration intends to “break up” NCAR, labeling it a source of “climate alarmism” and saying essential weather work would be reassigned.
  • The National Science Foundation has begun a formal review, while NCAR’s manager UCAR says it has received no implementation details as scientists warn of risks to forecasting, disaster preparedness, and university research that relies on NCAR’s supercomputing and specialized facilities.
  • Hundreds rallied in Boulder to oppose the breakup and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said he will challenge the effort, as reporting notes earlier budget plans sought roughly a 40% cut to NCAR.