The U.S. Congress is postponing debate over 2025 funding for NOAA Fisheries – and several other partisan spending disagreements between the House and Senate – in favor of a temporary spending bill that would avert a government shutdown.
With the 2025 budget deadline of 30 September fast approaching, federal lawmakers are scrambling to pass a bipartisan short-term spending bill that would keep the government operating over through 20 December and push back any difficult budget debates until after the November elections.
“Over the past four days, bipartisan, bicameral negotiations have been underway to reach an agreement that maintains current funding through 20 December and avoids a government shutdown a month before the election," U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a 22 September statement. “The government will run out of funding just over a week from today. Time is of the essence, and I hope [House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana)] and House Republicans will not waste any more time."
That could make planning for 2025 operations difficult for NOAA Fisheries. The agency currently faces two completely different funding scenarios in the House and Senate versions of the Commerce Department funding bill. In the House, Republicans have proposed a striking 22 percent cut to NOAA Fisheries’ budget. The Democrat-led Senate has proposed fully funding the agency’s 2025 budget request of USD 1.1 billion (EUR 1 billion).
The 2024 appropriations cycle was also chaotic for NOAA Fisheries and other regulatory agencies. Congress was unable to meet the budget deadline in September 2024, instead passing a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown. The 2024 spending bills were only passed by both houses of congress in March 2024 – just over six months before the 2025 appropriations deadline.
Now, congress’ decision to push back any decisions on 2025 appropriations until December leaves NOAA Fisheries in limbo, unsure of whether to plan for stark cuts to its funding or to prepare to enact the priorities laid out in U.S. President Joe Biden's budget request.
The upcoming 2024 presidential election is adding further uncertainty to the process. The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 proposes that NOAA “should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.” While much of the coverage of Project 2025 has focused on its proposal for eliminating free weather reports, a move that would have major ramifications for commercial fishers who rely on that data, the plan also proposes rolling back many of the conservation protections advanced under the Biden administration.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican Party presidential nominee has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, connections between the campaign and the initiative have been well-documented.
The Trump campaign’s official policy platform, Agenda 47, makes no mention of the candidate’s plans for NOAA or his preferred policies for the commercial fishing sector.
Congress is also unlikely to pass a renewed farm bill before the 30 September deadline. Commercial fishing advocates and coastal lawmakers have targeted the farm bill renewal as the best path forward to raise the profile of seafood and aquaculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a government agency that historically has not provided significant support to the commercial fishing sector.
The fishing sector won a major victory in June when Senate Republicans released a farm bill framework that included all three of the industry’s priorities: creating a seafood liaison within the Office of the Chief Economist, increasing USDA seafood purchases for the National School Lunch Program, and ensuring that seafood businesses can access USDA grants and financial services. According to Politico’s Morning Agriculture newsletter, agriculture leaders in Congress are prioritizing passing a new farm bill by the end of the calendar year.
