Tell Congress: Restore funding to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA.
Storm season is just around the corner — and the agency responsible for warning you about tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods is running on fumes.
Tell Congress: Restore funding to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA.
The Trump administration gutted the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) last year. This year’s budget request is no better. As of last month, there are still 300 fewer meteorologists and hydrologists than there were in late 2024.1 Five critical positions at the Storm Prediction Center — the office that forecasts tornadoes and severe winds — sit empty.1 That had almost never happened before.
The people who remain? Burning out. That's not my word — it's the word of the Weather Service's own director.1
This isn't just a staffing problem. It's a safety problem. Cuts to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA have made it harder to predict, warn, prepare, and respond to extreme weather events — events that are becoming more frequent and more deadly because of climate change.
Weaker institutions mean slower warnings, slower response, and slower recovery for families across the country. Communities across the country — especially the most vulnerable — are paying the price.
Congress has the power to reverse this. Extreme weather does not respect party lines. Neither does our demand for accountability. The Trump administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget requests found even more ways to further enrich Big Oil and defense contractors, while continuing to kneecap these agencies. Republicans can definitely fund lifesaving services that their states depend on. Three Point Five is teaming up with a coalition of organizations to demand they do just that. Are you with us?
Tell Congress: Restore funding to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA.
Brick by brick,
Monique Teal
Sources:
1. “Storm Season Is Here and the National Weather Service Is Short-Handed,” The New York Times, May 6, 2026.
