National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) FY2026 Budget Request and Appropriations
Changes from June 10, 2025 to September 5, 2025
This page shows textual changes in the document between the two versions indicated in the dates above. Textual matter removed in the later version is indicated with red strikethrough and textual matter added in the later version is indicated with blue.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency in the Department of Commerce, which defines its. NOAA's mission, as defined by the agency, is as to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts; to share that information; and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. OnIn March 15, 2025, Congress passed and the President signed into law a full-year continuing resolution of discretionary appropriations for NOAA for the remainder of FY2025, and President Trump signed it into law (P.L. 119-4). For FY2026, the Trump Administration is requesting a decrease in funding for NOAA broadly, with terminations to proposals to eliminate funding for climate-related offices and programs, among other changes. As of early June 2025, typical agency-specific documents associated with budget requests have not been made available for FY2026.
NOAA's work is divided among six line offices: National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS); National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); National Ocean Service (NOS); National Weather Service (NWS); Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR); and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO). NOAA's Mission Support provides planning, leadership, finances, information technology, educational programming, and other support across the line offices.
Congress typically provides NOAA with annual mandatory and discretionary appropriations. Mandatory appropriations, which generally comprise a small percentage of total NOAA funding, are disbursed to various accounts that support programs in NOS, NMFS, and OMAO. NOAA's discretionary appropriations typically are included in the annual Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations actlaws. Discretionary appropriations support two broad accounts—Operations, Research, and Facilities (ORF) and Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction (PAC)—and a few smaller accounts. Annual appropriations are one part of the agency's discretionary direct obligations or funding level, which also include transfers and recoveries from prior year obligations. For more about NOAA's budget structure, see CRS Report R48157, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Budget and Funding: Overview and Issues for Congress.
Agency Funding
NOAA has requested between $4.7 billion and $7.2 billion in nominal dollars per year in discretionary direct obligations for ORF and PAC from FY2017 to FY2026 (Figure 1). Congress provided between $5.5 billion and $6.7 billion in nominal dollars for discretionary direct obligations from FY2017 through FY2024. Congress did not provide a direct obligations amount in law for FY2025. The enacted OAR and PAC direct obligations were above $7 billion in FY2017 and FY2018, and lower since then, when adjusted for inflation (see orange line in Figure 1).
Figure 1. ORF and PAC Annual Discretionary Direct Obligations, FY2017-FY2026 (nominal and adjusted $s)
Sources: CRS, from NOAA budget justifications, congressional explanatory statements, and Budget FY2025, Table 10.1, Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables: 1940-2029.
Notes: See text for abbreviations. Congress did not specify an enacted direct obligations amount for FY2025. Discretionary direct obligations, or funding levels, include annual appropriations, transfers, and recoveries from prior year obligations but exclude any additional appropriations.
FY2025 Enacted Appropriations
Sources: CRS, from NOAA budget justifications, congressional explanatory statements, and Budget FY2025, Table 10.1, Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables: 1940-2029.
Notes: See text for abbreviations. Congress did not specify an enacted direct obligations amount for FY2025. Discretionary direct obligations, or funding levels, include annual appropriations, transfers, and recoveries from prior year obligations but exclude any additional appropriations.
In March 2025, Congress provided the agency a total of $6.1 billion in appropriations inas part of P.L. 119-4 (andCongress did not providespecify a direct obligations amount). The law required NOAA to submit a spending plan for the appropriations to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations; it is unclear if NOAA has submitted such a plan (as one has not been made. NESDIS, NMFS, NOS, and OAR reportedly will spend less than what Congress approved for FY2025 (the FY2025 spending plan was not publicly available).
Congress previously had provided NOAA with additional appropriations, through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA2022 budget reconciliation measure (sometimes referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA]; P.L. 117-169), to be made available to the agency in FY2025 and FY2026. In January 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14154, "Unleashing American Energy," which "pause[d]" the disbursement of IIJA- and IRA-appropriated funds. In July 2025, the FY2025 reconciliation act (P.L. 119-21) rescinded unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to NOAA by the IRA for coastal communities and climate resilience, NOAA and national marine sanctuaries facilities, efficient and effective reviews, and oceanic and atmospheric research and forecasting for weather and climate.
FY2026 Administration Budget Request
The Administration requested nearly $5 billion for discretionary direct obligations for ORF and PAC in FY2026 (Figure 1). Of that, the Administration requested $4.5 billion in appropriations (a component of discretionary direct obligations). The requested appropriations amount is $1.6 billion below the FY2025 enacted appropriations amount ($6.1 billion) estimated in the Office of Management and Budget's Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget (hereinafter referred to as estimated FY2025).
The Administration also proposed to eliminate OAR and to terminate its ORF and PAC funding, which would entail transferring some OAR activities to NWS (e.g., U.S. Weather Research Program, Tornado Severe Storm Research/Phased Array Radar) and NOS (e.g., Ocean Exploration and Research). Other OAR funding—including for climate-related programs—would be eliminated. Accounting for the potential transfer of OAR activities, the Administration requested a 7% increase for NWS and a 33% decrease for NOS from estimated FY2025 funding levels. The Administration also requested funding decreases for NESDIS (including reduced instrumentation and number of launches for the Geostationary Extended Observations satellite program), NMFS, OMAO, and Mission Support compared with estimated FY2025 funding levels (Figure 2).
FY2026 Congressional Appropriations Proposals
In July 2025, the House Subcommittee on CJS of the Appropriations Committee considered bill text and an accompanying report (hereinafter referred to as House subcommittee mark) and the Senate Appropriations Committee reported bill language (S.Rept. 119-44, accompanying S. 2354) for CJS for FY2026. The House subcommittee mark and Senate committee-reported bills would preserve NOAA's structure, maintaining funding for all line offices. In particular, S.Rept. 119-44 states, "While the committee could be open to realigning some programs to enhance operational outcomes, the absence of detailed plans hinders informed decision-making."
Both the House subcommittee mark and the Senate committee-reported bills would provide increased funding levels for NESDIS, NOS, OAR, OMAO, and Mission Support relative to the Administration's FY2026 request. In addition, both bills would provide slight increases in funding for NOS and OAR over the estimated FY2025 funding levels (Figure 2). In particular, S.Rept. 119-44 "strongly supports Climate Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes," and both bills would provide funding support for regional climate centers.
The FY2026 House and Senate proposals diverge for NMFS and NWS. The House subcommittee mark would provide a 37% decrease to the NMFS, whereas the Senate committee-reported bill would provide a 3% increase compared with estimated FY2025 funding levels. The House subcommittee draft would provide a 13% increase to NWS over estimated FY2025 funding levels; the Senate bill would provide an increase of $6.9 million (1%) (Figure 2). House and Senate documents expressed concerns regarding NWS staffing shortages, particularly at local Weather Forecast Offices, and would direct NOAA to provide a report about its plans to address NWS staffing concerns.
Issues for Congress
The FY2026 budget request emphasizes a "President Trump issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14154, "Unleashing American Energy" in January 2025, which "pause[d]" the disbursement of funds appropriated through the IIJA and IRA for an unknown amount of time. It is unclear whether the previously appropriated IIJA and IRA funding will be made available to the agency for use in FY2025 and FY2026.
|
|
Sources: CRS, from NOAA budget justifications, congressional explanatory statements, and Budget FY2025, Table 10.1, Gross Domestic Product and Deflators Used in the Historical Tables: 1940-2029. Notes: See text for abbreviations. Congress did not specify an enacted direct obligations amount for FY2025, thus the figure does not show an amount. NOAA did receive FY2025 appropriations. Discretionary direct obligations, or funding levels, include annual appropriations, transfers, and recoveries from prior year obligations but exclude any additional appropriations. |
FY2026 Budget Request
NOAA has not yet released its FY2026 budget request congressional justification with information about specific programs and funding. Instead, this In Focus refers to an internal Office of Management and Budget NOAA Pre-decisional Passback circulated in April 2025 and to the Trump Administration's FY2026 "skinny" budget request and Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget released in May 2025. The Passback was authenticated by several news sources (e.g., San Francisco Chronicle, Politico, New York Times).
In its Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget, the Trump Administration requests nearly $5 billion for discretionary direct obligations for ORF and PAC in FY2026 (Figure 1). Of that, the Administration requests $4.5 billion in appropriations (a component of discretionary direct obligations). The requested appropriations amount is $1.6 billion below the FY2025 enacted appropriations amount ($6.1 billion).
Issues for Congress
The Pre-decisional Passback, FY2026 "skinny" budget request, and Technical Supplement provide limited information regarding requested funding changes across the agency. The Pre-decisional Passback aims to "support a leaner NOAA that focuses on core operational needs, eliminates unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, terminates nonessential grant programs, and ends activities that do not warrant a [f]ederal role." The Passback provides various levels of detail for the proposed changes to the line offices and Mission Support. The "skinny" budget request highlights proposals to terminate climate-focused efforts and changes to the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite program within NESDIS. Most recently, the Technical Supplement provides information on proposed changes to funding for each line office; the Trump Administration proposes to terminate ORF and PAC funding for OAR and to decrease funding for the other line offices and Mission Support from the FY2025 amounts, with the exception of NWS, which would receive an increase of $96 million compared with FY2025 levels (Figure 2).
Changes to Research, Data, and Grant Programs
The Pre-decisional Passback would terminate or reduce funding for certain grant programs across NOS, NMFS, OAR, and Mission Support. Remaining OAR programs would be transferred to NOS and NWS. The FY2026 "skinny" budget request proposes to terminate funding for "climate-dominated research, data, and grant programs" and specifically mentions projects supported by the Office of Education in Mission Support and multiple programs within OAR. The Technical Supplement does not discuss how the agency plans to implement statutory authorities and responsibilities most recently fulfilled by these Mission Support and OAR programs.
NESDIS Changes
The Pre-decisional Passback proposes decreases for certain offices and programs within NESDIS, such as the National Centers for Environmental Information. It also would maintain planned levels for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites R Series, polar weather satellites, and the Space Weather Follow-on program and increase funding for the Near Earth Orbit Network. The FY2026 "skinny" budget request proposes to "rescope" NOAA's GeoXO satellite program, including the cancellation of instruments focused on climate measurements. At the same time, the budget request supports "continuing to modernize core weather-monitoring capabilities," although it is unknown what activities may fall under modernization efforts. Lastly, the Technical Supplement proposes to decrease funding for NESDIS but notes that the request "maintains continuity of major systems, including satellites, needed for weather forecasting."
Other Considerations
As Congress determines how much funding to provide the agency and for what activities in FY2026, Members also may consider broader questions related to the possible consequences of the Administration's recent changes to NOAA's staffing and how proposed additional reductions may impact the agency's implementation of its statutory authorities and responsibilities.
Notes: See text for abbreviations. NOAA line office amounts as provided in the listed sources.