Senate FY 2015 NOAA Appropriations Bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee released its report on Tuesday accompanying the FY 2015 Commerce Justice, Science Appropriations Bill. Report 113-181 provides the appropriators’ recommendations regarding the agencies funded by S. 2437. The House Appropriations Committee developed its own version of this funding legislation in early May.

The Senate language regarding the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is on pages 29 – 51 of the report . Figures below reflect total spending for each program.

Total NOAA:

The FY 2014 appropriation was $5,320.6 million
The FY 2015 request is $5,496.7 million, an increase of $176.1 million or 3.3 percent
The House bill provides $5,310.1 million, a decrease of $10.5 million or 0.2 percent below current funding
The Senate bill provides $5,420.0 million, an increase of $99.4 million or 1.9 percent above current funding

Report language found on page 29 states: “The Committee’s recommendation for NOAA maintains a balanced science and research portfolio that encompasses all aspects of our oceans, coasts, and weather, while managing current fiscal constraints. The Committee has provided modest but sufficient increases to all of NOAA’s line offices in an effort to advance research and operations while providing a necessary boost to NOAA’s acquisitions accounts including supporting the requested increases for improving weather information technology infrastructure and the construction of our next generation of weather satellites.” Also see pages 3 – 4.

Within NOAA are the following selected programs:

National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (total):

The FY 2014 appropriation was $2,083.1 million
The FY 2015 request is $2,247.9 million, an increase of $164.8 million or 7.9 percent
The House bill provides $2,221.3 million, an increase of $138.2 million or 6.6 percent above current funding
The Senate bill provides $2,176.6 million, an increase of $93.5 million or 4.5 percent above current funding

Report language is found on page 45 pertaining to National Environmental Information Office and pages 49 – 51 regarding Weather Satellites, JPSS Gap Mitigation, Jason-3 and DSCOVR, SIDAR, Radio Occultation Data, and NOAA Satellite Reporting.

National Ocean Service:

The FY 2014 appropriation was $498.7 million
The FY 2015 request is $519.4 million, an increase of $20.7 million or 4.2 percent
The House bill provides $469.8 million, a decrease of $28.9 million or 5.8 percent below current funding
The Senate bill provides $493.5 million, a decrease of $5.2 million or 1.0 percent below current funding

Report language is found on pages 29 – 30 and 48 – 49 regarding National Estuarine Research Reserve Construction.

National Weather Service (total):

The FY 2014 appropriation was $1,067.3 million
The FY 2015 request is $1,063.4 million, a decrease of $3.9 million or 0.4 percent
The House bill provides $1,079.7 million, an increase of $12.4 million or 1.2 percent above current funding.
The Senate bill provides $1,087.2 million, an increase of $19.9 million or 1.9 percent above current funding

Report language on pages 42 - 45 pertains to Weather Service Modernization; Information Technology Officers; Facilities; National Data Buoy Center; National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program; Central Forecast Guidance; Small Business Innovation Research; National Mesonet Program and Space Weather.

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (total):

The FY 2014 appropriation was $426.8 million
The FY 2015 request is $462.2 million, an increase of $35.4 million or 8.3 percent
The House bill provides $393.3 million, a decrease of $33.5 million or 7.8 percent below current funding
The Senate bill provides $443.4 million, an increase of $16.6 million or 3.9 percent above current funding

Report language found on pages 40 - 42 pertains to Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes; Climate Research; Multi-Function Phased Array Radar; Vortex-Southeast; National Sea Grant Program; Marine Aquaculture Research; and Ocean Exploration. Also, page 49 regarding Research Supercomputing.