ICYMI: Sen. Ted Cruz Reduced Weather Forecasting Funding Before Deadly Central Texas Floods

“…Cruz ensured a reduction in funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) efforts to improve future weather forecasting of events that cause the sort of extreme floods that are being worsened by the human-caused climate crisis.”

July 10, 2025

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AUSTIN, TX – A flash flood along the Guadalupe River has claimed over 100 lives, including dozens of children and counselors at a summer camp. The tragedy comes amid broader concerns about weather preparedness. According to Mother Jones, Senator Ted Cruz recently cut funding for weather forecasting before leaving for a vacation in Greece, potentially weakening emergency communication systems. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget aims to dismantle all of NOAA’s weather and climate research labs and its entire research division. This move, if enacted, could lead to further loss of life and property damage as global temperatures continue to rise, making extreme weather more frequent.

HIGHLIGHTS

“Cruz inserted language into the Republicans’ ‘big beautiful’ reconciliation bill, prior to its signing by Donald Trump on Friday, that eliminates a $150 million fund to ‘accelerate advances and improvements in research, observation systems, modeling, forecasting, assessments, and dissemination of information to the public’ around weather forecasting.”
“A further $50 million in NOAA grants to study climate-related impacts on oceans, weather systems, and coastal ecosystems was also removed.”
“More than 600 employees have exited the NWS amid a Trump administration push to shrink the government workforce, leaving many offices short-staffed of meteorologists and other support workers.”
“Around a fifth of all full-time workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), meanwhile, are also set to depart.”
“The Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposal seeks to dismantle all of NOAA’s weather and climate research labs, along with its entire research division. This would halt research and development of new weather forecasting technologies and methods.”
“‘We have added a lot of carbon to the atmosphere, and that extra carbon traps energy in the climate system,’ said Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University. ‘Because of this extra energy, every weather event we see now carries some influence from climate change. The only question is how big that influence is … Climate change very likely made this event stronger.’”

Read the full story below:

Mother Jones: Sen. Ted Cruz Stripped Weather Forecasting Funds From Trump’s Megabill. Then the Floods Came.

[Oliver Milman, 7/9/2025]