The Honorable Donna F. Edwards
NOAA Proposes Furloughs
April 17, 2013
Mr. Speaker, like many Americans, I began my morning this morning with a check of the local weather forecast. It actually helps me answer questions, important questions, such as what should I wear, do I need an umbrella, or is a storm approaching that’s going to tie up traffic.
The weather forecast is really important, but too often it’s taken for granted. And, unfortunately, thanks to the Republican insistence that sequester cuts take effect, our access to these timely and reliable weather forecasts may be impacted negatively.
On Monday, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, which includes the National Weather Service, proposed 4 furlough days, with a potential for 10. The cash-strapped Weather Service provides predictions for the ever-more-frequent extreme weather events, such as Superstorm Sandy, the historic drought impacting our agricultural sector last year, and the tornados that ravished the South in 2011.
On a daily basis, it impacts the lives of Americans across the country. Even today, severe storms are ravaging the midsection of the country. The Weather Service is already understaffed. Sequestration could further deteriorate forecasting abilities. So, once again, they’ve made indiscriminate spending cuts our top priority. We need to stop this and protect our economic safety and our national security.
