Congress moves to restore weather forecasting after NOAA cuts
H.R. 5002 — Protect Americans from Climate Disasters Act · Filed by Joe Neguse (D-CO) · 12 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 19, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the Department of Commerce to fully staff NOAA and the National Weather Service, reinstate employees laid off since January 20, 2025, and restore three discontinued data products (Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, Marine Environmental Buoy Database, Global Ocean Currents Database). It appropriates $6.76 billion to NOAA for fiscal year 2026 to support extreme weather forecasting, disaster preparedness, and climate monitoring.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is restoring federal capacity for weather forecasting and disaster preparedness through staffing and data product reinstatement, funded by a direct appropriation to NOAA.
What the text implies
- The bill implicitly responds to recent NOAA staffing cuts and program eliminations (referenced as occurring between January 20, 2025 and enactment), suggesting it is a direct legislative counter to executive-branch reductions in climate and weather science capacity.
- Reinstatement of the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters product restores public transparency on the economic cost of climate events, data that had been removed from public access.
- The $6.76 billion appropriation is contingent on fiscal year 2026 and does not address ongoing operational funding beyond that period, potentially creating a cliff if not renewed.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens depend on NOAA for weather forecasts, hurricane warnings, and disaster alerts that directly protect lives and property. Restoring staffing and data products strengthens public safety infrastructure and access to critical environmental information that affects emergency preparedness and disaster response.
Named in the bill
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS), Department of Commerce (SecDOC), National Centers for Environmental Information, Fifth US National Climate Assessment
Where it stands
12 cosponsors: 12 Democrats.
- Aug 19, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 19, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $403,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 74 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Joe Neguse, the sponsor, reported $1,076,229 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Ocean Conservancy — $403,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 6, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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