Tell Congress: Restore funding to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA

The National Weather Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are not bureaucratic abstractions. They are the reason families get warnings before tornadoes touch down. How communities are able to prepare before hurricanes make landfall. And why help arrives after floods and fires devastate a town.

Last year's cuts gutted the National Weather Service. Storm season is here. Hurricane season starts in June. And the office responsible for forecasting tornadoes currently has five critical vacancies — an almost unprecedented gap.

Climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and more severe. This is the worst possible moment to weaken the institutions designed to protect us from them.

Congress must:

• Restore full funding to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA.

• Reverse the staffing cuts that have left forecasting offices dangerously short-handed.

• Invest in the workforce and infrastructure needed to warn, prepare, and protect American families — now and in the years ahead.

To: Congress
From: [Your Name]

The National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA are not bureaucratic abstractions. They provide families with warnings before tornadoes touch down, allow communities to prepare before hurricanes make landfall, and ensure help arrives after floods and fires devastate a town.

Congress must restore full funding and reverse staffing cuts to the National Weather Service, NOAA, and FEMA, while investing in the necessary workforce and infrastructure to warn, prepare, and protect American families now and in the years ahead.

Sources:

1. “Storm Season Is Here and the National Weather Service Is Short-Handed,” The New York Times, May 6, 2026.