IN an age of ever expanding government spending, the House Republicans are proposing that government scientists shift their focus to predicting storms, not on climate change.
The Weather Forecasting Improvement Act, H.R. 2413, could be voted upon as soon as Tuesday, based upon this report in The Hill..
The House will vote next week on a Republican bill to require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to focus its efforts on storm predictions instead of researching climate change.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) first introduced a bill last year after a round of tornadoes in his state. His argument was that government over spends on climate change research, while under-spending on the development of developing weather forecasting tools that could save lives today, not in some long off theoretical construct of what the planet’s climate may or may not eventually be.
His bill does not explicitly kick the government out of the climate change business. But it does say NOAA must “prioritize weather-related activities, including the provision of improved weather data, forecasts, and warnings for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy, in all relevant line offices.”
Last year, Bridenstine released a statement saying the intent of the bill is to “protect lives and property by shifting funds from climate change research to severe weather forecasting research.”
The bill would require NOAA to focus on “the protection of lives and property as one of its core missions, and to improve weather-related research”.
It would also create a tornado warning program, as well as an improved plan for tornado forecasting.