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By Anna Skinner
Associate News Editor
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The Senate has unanimously advanced a sweeping bipartisan weather bill aimed at strengthening the nation’s forecasting and warning systems, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continues to contend with the fallout from staffing and program cuts made under the Trump administration’s government-shrinking push.
The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026 is not framed as a response to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-era cuts, which are not mentioned in the legislation, nor does it directly restore jobs eliminated under them.
Instead, the bill would modernize a broad range of NOAA programs, requiring the agency to assess staffing needs and develop a five-year workforce plan, protecting certain forecasting and warning positions from hiring freezes, and strengthening weather radar and forecasting and research for floods, wildfires, atmospheric rivers, drought, extreme heat, hurricanes and tornadoes. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will cost about $2.9 billion to implement from 2027 through 2031, assuming Congress appropriates the necessary funding.
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The bipartisan bill, led by Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington and Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, passed the Senate unanimously on Tuesday. Newsweek reached out to Cantwell’s office by phone and Cruz’s office by email for comment on Friday morning.
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Extreme Weather, El Niño Add Urgency to Forecasting Push
The push to bolster forecasting comes as a strengthening El Niño raises the stakes for the coming winter, particularly in California, where atmospheric rivers can deliver intense rainfall, flooding and landslides. NOAA expects the strong-to-very strong El Niño to favor a stormier southern tier and wetter-than-average conditions across California and much of the Southwest this winter.
Other recent extreme weather events were cited in the Senate press release announcing the bill’s passage, including Hurricane Helene in 2024, Central Texas floods in July 2025 that killed more than 135 people, and several atmospheric river events that caused billions of dollars in damage, as examples of the growing risks the legislation’s investments in forecasting and warning systems are intended to address.
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“Americans are facing increasingly dangerous and costly weather disasters, and better forecasts give communities more time to prepare and get out of harm’s way,” Cantwell said in the press release. “The Weather Act will advance next-generation weather radar, modernize lifesaving warning systems and improve forecasts for atmospheric rivers and wildfires, like the devastating fires that forced thousands to evacuate in Spokane last month. Senate passage brings us one step closer to giving forecasters, emergency managers and communities the tools they need to save lives and protect property.”
The unanimous Senate vote comes amid deep partisan divisions in Congress, but broad bipartisan support for weather forecasting legislation is not unusual. The original Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 passed Congress and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. However, a 2023 reauthorization proposal later passed the House by a wide bipartisan margin but stalled in the Senate.
How Did DOGE Cuts Affect NOAA?
The Trump administration’s cuts began hitting NOAA in February 2025, when about 880 employees were fired, most of them probationary. A second round followed in March, when the administration moved to eliminate more than 1,000 additional positions.
The cuts affected National Weather Service (NWS) offices that were already struggling with staffing shortages. Some offices reduced weather-balloon launches from twice to once a day, while others temporarily suspended them because they did not have enough staff. The balloons collect atmospheric data used in weather models and forecasts. Staffing shortages also left vacancies in key positions responsible for issuing forecasts and coordinating with local emergency officials.
Those problems came under heightened scrutiny after the deadly July 2025 floods in Texas Hill Country. The weather service issued timely warnings, and the staffing cuts have not been shown to have caused or worsened the disaster. But vacancies, including a missing warning coordination meteorologist tasked with communicating with emergency officials, raised questions about whether the cuts had weakened coordination during severe weather.
“Texans know all too well the devastation storms can bring,” Cruz said in the release. “The lives lost in the July 4, 2025, Texas floods are a heartbreaking reminder of what is at stake. The Weather Act brings together over a dozen bipartisan bills to modernize radar systems, deliver more accurate and timely forecasts, and improve warnings so families and first responders have more time to act, no matter where they are and no matter the time of day.”
What Programs Could See Expansion Under New Bill?
The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026 is a broad package aimed at modernizing NOAA’s forecasting and warning systems. Beyond addressing workforce needs, it would expand or establish programs covering everything from atmospheric rivers and wildfires to radar, artificial intelligence and commercial weather data.
Some of the biggest changes include:
- Atmospheric rivers: Establishes a dedicated program to improve predictions of atmospheric rivers, including their timing, intensity and potential impacts. This could be particularly important for West Coast flooding and water management.
- Next-generation radar: Aims to modernize the country’s aging weather-radar network established in the mid-1990s to improve detection of severe weather.
- Artificial intelligence: Directs NOAA to incorporate AI into weather forecasting and modeling as the agency develops faster and more accurate prediction tools.
- Hurricanes and tornadoes: Reauthorizes hurricane forecasting work and expands research aimed at better understanding and predicting tornadoes and other severe storms.
- Wildfires: Establishes an official Fire Weather Services Program to improve forecasts, warnings and preparedness for wildfire conditions.
What Happens Next
After passing the Senate unanimously on November 10, the bill heads to the House. If approved there and signed into law by Trump, it would reauthorize and expand federal weather research and forecasting programs through fiscal year 2031.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Anna Skinner and Dave Siminoff.
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