Ranking Member Huffman Decries Mass Layoffs at NOAA

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released the following statement regarding the Trump administration’s mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

“Today, over one thousand scientists and experts at NOAA received the news every federal worker has been dreading. Musk and his fake officials, the DOGE tech bros, have been rummaging through our most sensitive data without authority in violation of the law for weeks now. And this has come with sweeping, indiscriminate layoffs of nonpartisan public servants. Park rangers, firefighters, scientists – all of these people, whose purpose is to serve everyday Americans, have had the rug pulled out from under them. And we will all be worse off for it,” said Ranking Member Huffman.

“Musk’s sham mission is bringing vital programs to a screeching halt. People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information. Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives. My Democratic colleagues and I will keep fighting back in state and federal courts, in the halls of Congress, and the court of public opinion. This is a betrayal of the American people, and it will not stand.”

BACKGROUND

Natural Resources Ranking Member Jared Huffman has repeatedly sounded the alarm on Trump and Musk’s attacks on NOAA.

Earlier this month, Huffman, along with Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee Ranking Member Val Hoyle and 13 Members of Congress sent a letter to Vice Admiral Nancy Hann, then-acting NOAA Administrator, demanding answers on reports of President Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to unlawfully dismantle NOAA. Ranking Member Huffman sent a similar letter to Chair Westerman urging him to use the Committee’s oversight authority to investigate Musk and DOGE’s infiltration of NOAA.

Huffman and Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) also called attention to the first signs of non-federal, unauthorized DOGE employees entering NOAA. This followed reports that NOAA was instructed to search grant programs for climate-related terms, sparking concern that the Trump administration could be targeting and cutting programs related to combatting the climate crisis and hindering NOAA’s ability to track and understand extreme weather events.

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