As flood-stricken states grapple with the fallout from Hurricane Helene – which research shows was exacerbated by climate change -- U.S. Senator Jack Reed is blasting climate change deniers and says the federal government must continue to help states prepare for emergencies and effectively assist those impacted with coordinated recovery, rescue, and rebuilding efforts.
Trump’s Project 2025 allies are seeking to privatize the nation’s largest public source of real-time meteorological data and weather forecasts and want to “break up and downsize” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and end aid to states for preparedness grants, which would cost Rhode Island tens of millions of dollars annually.
Reed says that if Project 2025 backers dismantle NOAA, it would hurt the Ocean State and Americans living in coastal communities and warns that creating a new paywall for accurate weather could jeopardize public safety. In addition to tearing down an agency whose responsibilities include tracking and predicting hurricanes, Project 2025’s manifesto also calls for slashing public rebuilding money and dissolving federal flood insurance.
Trump’s Project 2025 allies want to dismantle NOAA’s free, national early-warning weather system because right-wing extremists falsely believe the data NOAA provides is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry,” and “harmful to future U.S. prosperity.”
“The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated,” proclaims Project 2025.
Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee, wants to boost NOAA funding, and helped advance through the Senate Appropriations Committee a bipartisan Appropriations bill that includes $1.9 billion for NOAA weather satellites, $102 million above fiscal year 2024. These weather satellites are critical to accurate weather prediction that people, businesses, and communities rely on each and every day.
