National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) FY2025 Budget Request and Appropriations

May 13, 2024 – April 3, 2025 IF12667

Updated April 3, 2025 (IF12667)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency in the Department of Commerce whose mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts; share that information; and conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. On March 15, 2025, Congress passed a full-year continuing resolution discretionary appropriations for NOAA for the remainder of FY2025, and President Trump signed it into law (P.L. 119-4). NOAA must submit a spending plan for the appropriations to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 45 days of the law's enactment; it is unclear how similar to or different it will be from other FY2025 funding proposals.

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 act. Discretionary appropriations support two broad accounts—Operations, Research, and Facilities (ORF) and Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction (PAC)—and few smaller accounts. Annual appropriations are one part of the agency's direct obligations or funding level, which also include transfers and recoveries from prior year obligations. This product focuses on the NOAA's FY2025 direct obligations for ORF and PAC.

Agency Funding

NOAA has requested between $4.7 billion and $7.2 billion in direct obligations for ORF and PAC since FY2015; Congress provided between $5.5 billion and $6.7 billion in nominal dollars during that time. The OAR and PAC direct obligations were higher in the mid-2010s, relative to the recent past, when using adjusted for inflation (see orange line in Figure 1).

FY2025 Request

The Biden Administration requested over $6.9 billion in discretionary direct obligations for ORF and PAC for FY2025 (out of $7.1 billion in total for all accounts), including almost $6.5 billion in appropriations (Figure 1). The request was $129.0 million above the FY2025 base level ($6.8 billion) and $175.1 million over the FY2024 enacted amount ($6.7 billion). NOAA calculated the FY2025 base level as equal to the amounts in a FY2024 continuing resolution (P.L. 118-40) plus expected "Adjustments-To-Base," such as certain inflationary modifications.

Figure 1. ORF and PAC Annual Direct Obligations, FY2015-FY2025 ($ in billions, nominal and adjusted)

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. Figure does not include additional appropriations. Direct obligations include appropriations, transfers, and recoveries from prior year obligations. Congress provided an appropriations amount in P.L. 119-4 and did not provide a direct obligations amount for FY2025.

FY2025 Enacted Appropriations

After various short-term CRs, in March 2025, Congress provided the agency a total of $6.1 billion in appropriations in P.L. 119-4. The law did not specify a direct obligations amount. Congress had previously provided NOAA with additional appropriations also available to the agency in FY2025. According to NOAA, $515.6 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58), $330.0 million from P.L. 117-169, known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and $34.0 million from P.L. 117-328 were available in FY2025.

Figure 2

. NOAA Annual ORF and PAC Discretionary Direct Obligations ($ in billions, nominal)

Figure is interactive in the HTML version of this In Focus; line office amounts for P.L. 119-4 are not available.

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Sources: CRS using NOAA, Budget Estimates Fiscal Year 2025, Congressional Submission; explanatory statement accompanying P.L. 118-42; and line office amounts as listed in tables within H.Rept. 118-582 and S.Rept. 118-198.

Notes: See text for abbreviations and FY2025 base level definition. Direct obligations, or total program or funding levels, include annual appropriations, transfers, and recoveries from prior year obligations but exclude any supplemental appropriations. The total direct obligations for ORF and PAC in the text of H.Rept. 118-582, S.Rept. 118-198, H.R. 9026, and S. 4795 differ from the totals of summing the direct obligations by line office in the tables within H.Rept. 118-582 and S.Rept. 118-198. This figure uses the line office amounts as shown in report tables. Congress did not provide a breakdown of funding per line office within the FY2025 appropriations law (P.L. 119-4), nor did it release explanatory language to accompany the law.

Issues for Congress

The Biden Administration requested funding changes across the agency for FY2025; however, Congress did not provide a breakdown of funding per line office within the FY2025 appropriations law (P.L. 119-4), nor did it release explanatory language to accompany the law. Thus, until the mandated agency spending plan is available, it remains unknown which, if any, funding changes previously proposed for the agency (discussed below) will be adopted and implemented by the Trump Administration.

The Biden Administration proposed the largest funding changes in the NESDIS, OAR, and NOS line offices (Figure 2) relative to the FY2024 enacted and FY2025 base levels (discussed below). NOAA requested smaller changes for the other line offices, including decreases for NMFS and increases for NWS, OMAO, and Mission Support.

NESDIS Changes

NOAA's FY2025 request for NESDIS was higher than the FY2024 enacted amount and FY2025 base level. It included increases from the FY2025 base level for Polar Weather Satellites (PWS), which provide global meteorological observations for short- and mid-term forecasts and weather warnings, and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), which provides space-based environmental monitoring. NOAA requested $342.4 million for FY2025 ($342.4 million FY2024 enacted; $183.5 million FY2025 base level) for PWS, and $798.4 million ($285.0 million FY2024 enacted; $285.0 million FY2025 base level) for GEO programs.

NOS Changes

The FY2025 request proposed decreased or terminated funding for NOS nonfederal grants and cooperative agreements in FY2025. The largest changes included terminating

Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending (CPF/CDS), which received $54.6 million in FY2024 with a $37.7 million FY2025 base level, and
base funding for the National Coastal Resilience Fund, which received $32.0 million in FY2024 with a $34.0 million FY2025 base level.

NOAA's request also would have decreased funding for Integrated Ocean Observing System regional observations by $32.5 million ($42.5 million FY2024 enacted; $42.5 million FY2025 base level) and for NOS competitive research grants by $17.5 million ($20.0 million FY2024 enacted; $22.5 million FY2025 base level). NOAA requested some of the changes (and those for OAR; see below) to support "other NOAA and Administration priorities." NOAA planned to use funds from IIJA (e.g., $232.5 million) for some FY2025 NOS activities.

OAR Changes

The FY2025 request proposed to decrease or terminate funding for OAR nonfederal grants and cooperative agreements in FY2025. NOAA did not request funding for OAR CPF/CDS ($19.2 million FY2024 enacted; $20.8 million FY2025 base level) and also would have terminated the acquisition of a phased array radar as it was previously acquired via FY2023-FY2024 funds. NOAA requested decreased ocean exploration and research funding by $21.0 million ($46.0 million FY2024 enacted; $46.4 million FY2025 base level) and termination of Sea Grant aquaculture research ($14.0 million FY2024 enacted; $14.0 million FY2025 base level). NOAA planned to use funds from IIJA (e.g., $36.6 million) for some FY2025 OAR activities.

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Appropriations

Report Type: In Focus

Source: Congress.gov, CRSReports.Congress.gov

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