U.S. President Donald Trump has once again proposed making massive cuts to NOAA, even though Congress largely rejected his similar request for fiscal year 2026.
The White House’s fiscal year 2027 budget outline recommends a USD 1.6 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) cut to NOAA.
“The Budget terminates a variety of Green New Scam programs at NOAA. For example, NOAA’s educational grant programs have consistently funded efforts to radicalize students against markets, promote DEI, and spread baseless environmental alarm. NOAA also funded organizations such as the Ocean Conservancy and One Cool Earth that push agendas harmful to America’s fishing industries,” the White House stated in its topline budget document.
The proposal largely mirrors what the president demanded last year, when the White House recommended cutting NOAA’s overall budget by USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) for fiscal year 2026. The administration’s justification for this year’s cuts mirrors last year’s justification nearly word for word, with the White House blaming “NOAA’s educational grant programs” for radicalizing “students against markets” and spreading “environmental alarm.”
The fiscal year 2026 NOAA budget proposal also included USD 422.5 million (EUR 363.4 million) in cuts to NOAA Fisheries, a 33 percent decrease from fiscal year 2024 funding.
However, lawmakers in Congress largely rejected Trump’s spending cut demands over the extended fiscal year 2026 budget process. House Republicans initially backed Trump’s proposal – and even recommended a larger cut – but the Senate largely rejected the cuts, only putting forward a slight spending reduction of 6 percent for NOAA Fisheries.
The budget process was derailed when lawmakers missed their deadline for passing fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills, plunging the nation into a federal government shutdown for multiple weeks. Congress was finally able to pass a temporary spending measure in November 2025 to reopen the government and, in January 2026, made another push to pass the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills.
The compromise budget bills released and adopted in January largely rejected Trump’s cuts.
“This package rejects President Trump’s push to let our competitors do laps around us by slashing federal funding for scientific research by upward of 50 percent and killing thousands of good jobs in the process. It protects essential funding for our public lands, rejects steep proposed cuts to public safety grants that keep our communities safe, and boosts funding for key flood mitigation projects,” U.S. Senator Patty Smith (D-Washington) said at the time.
The final legislation allocated USD 1.12 billion (EUR 955 million) in funding for NOAA Fisheries, which was roughly flat with fiscal year 2024 enacted levels.
Now, Trump is trying once again to convince Congress to enact his spending cuts.
Environmental NGO Ocean Conservancy, which was mentioned by name in the White House’s justification for the massive funding cut, was quick to criticize the recommendation.
“The proposed cuts to NOAA fly directly in the face of the clear bipartisan support Congress showed earlier this year by protecting funding for this critical agency,” Ocean Conservancy Director of Government Relations Katherine Tsantiris said in a statement. “Slashing NOAA’s budget would weaken weather forecasting, disrupt fisheries management and stall ocean research – putting American lives, livelihoods, and global scientific leadership at risk. Congress should once again reject these cuts to ensure NOAA has the resources it needs to support our economy, protect our ocean, and keep Americans safe.”
The Trump administration is also recommending moving Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protect Act (MMPA) permitting under the purview of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The White House said that NOAA’s involvement in administering those laws has created “unnecessary red tape, increased costs, delayed approvals, and produced inconsistent outcomes for permittees.”
“This important change would allow NOAA to refocus on management of commercial and recreational fisheries,” the White House said.
The Trump administration recommended the same change last year, but leaders in Congress said lawmakers did not have enough time to fully consider the change during the budget process and it was quickly dropped.
