Democrats in U.S. Congress are warning that rumored cuts to NOAA would endanger the agency’s ability to adequately manage the nation’s commercial fisheries.
“Last week, the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency entered NOAA facilities and accessed data and files,” U.S. Representative Val Hoyle (D-Oregon) said during a 12 February U.S. House Natural Resources Committee markup meeting. “Furthermore, NOAA employees are reporting rumors of severe budget cuts that would gut essential programs and jobs that our fishermen and our communities rely on. Basic responsibilities such as providing grants to regional fishery management councils for their operations and routine fisheries stock assessments could be delayed or canceled.”
CBS News reported that current NOAA employees have been told to expect staff to be cut by 50 percent and the agency’s budget to be cut by 30 percent.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing hard to reduce the size of the federal workforce, offering buyouts to encourage employees to resign.
On 11 February, the president appeared to double down on his efforts to significantly reduce the number of federal employees, signing an executive order directing agencies to not hire more than one employee for every four who depart. Almost all new hires will need to be approved by a DOGE representative, according to the order.
“Elon Musk and his DOGE tech bros are ransacking federal agencies, accessing Americans’ private data, and purporting to fire people and shut down entire programs. It appears that NOAA is next on the chopping block,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) said. “Gutting NOAA the way DOGE is attempting to do with so many other agencies will literally put lives at risk.”
The Republican-controlled House Budget Committee plans to hold up a markup of the Republican budget plan on 13 February, with a goal of cutting a minimum of USD 1.5 trillion (EUR 1.4 trillion) in spending.
While spending on NOAA Fisheries was not revealed in the initial announcement of a budget plan, Republicans have targeted the agency in recent budget negotiations. House Republicans initially proposed a 22 percent cut in NOAA Fisheries funding for 2025, although any decisions on 2025 spending was pushed down the road by Congress last year through a series of continuing resolutions.
Huffman, Hoyle, and 13 other legislators sent a joint letter to NOAA Acting Administrator Vice Admiral Nancy Hann demanding answers on DOGE’s impact on NOAA.
“There have been credible reports of DOGE personnel disregarding security checkpoints, rifling through personal belongings, demanding access to computers, emails, and other sensitive information, and adding employees’ names to lists on their clipboards if they are perceived to have resisted,” the members said in their letter. “While this is happening at core NOAA facilities in the Washington, D.C. region, our constituents who work at NOAA labs and regional facilities across the nation fear for their jobs and their families’ futures.”
In a 12 February U.S. House Natural Resources Committee markup meeting, Democrats aired their concerns with DOGE and potential cuts to NOAA Fisheries.
Democrats called for the committee to ...
