Congress stops NSF from shutting down ocean watching network.
S. 4822 — Saving the OOI Act of 2026 · Filed by Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · 11 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 17, 2026 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill stops the National Science Foundation from closing the Ocean Observatories Initiative. This network watches the ocean in five places. They are Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and the Irminger Sea. The NSF must keep all tools running during a full review. Scientists and coastal groups must have a say in the review.
Who it affects
People who live near coasts benefit from ocean watching. The watching helps with climate research, weather prediction, wave warnings, and fishing. Scientists and coastal groups get a voice in the review.
One thing to notice
The bill requires the NSF to keep all tools running during the review. This may force the NSF to move money from other research. The Ocean Observatories Initiative may need new money to stay open.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
11 cosponsors: 10 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jun 17, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jun 17, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed/agreed to in Senate: Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- National Science Foundation — A government agency that pays for science research across the United States.
- Ocean Observatories Initiative — A network of tools in the ocean that collect facts about water and weather.
- coastal groups — People and groups who live near or work on the coast.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (958 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-21.
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