Overview

• The internal FY 2026 budget document outlines a 30 percent expense cut, trimming roughly $2 billion from NOAA’s funding
• It directs elimination of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, effectively dismantling the agency’s primary climate science division
• Funding for climate, weather and ocean laboratories and cooperative institutes would be zeroed out, triggering closure of key sites including the Mauna Loa Observatory program and Miami’s hurricane research facility
• The plan calls for reducing full-time staff by about 2,061 positions, a 17 percent cut, even as NOAA pledges to sustain select high-priority National Weather Service and National Ocean Services programs
• Scientists and industry groups warn the cuts threaten forecasting precision, disaster preparedness and the United States’ role in global climate monitoring as Congress considers the proposal