02.04.25

Ranking Members Huffman, Lofgren Sound the Alarm on Musk’s Invasion at Key Science Agency

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (CA-02) and Science, Space, and Technology Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) issued the following statement: 

“Elon Musk and his DOGE hackers are ransacking their way through the federal government, unlawfully gaining unfettered access to Americans’ private information and gutting programs people depend on. Now they have reached NOAA where they’re wreaking havoc on the scientific and regulatory systems that protect American families’ safety and jobs,” said Ranking Members Huffman and Lofgren.

“Americans rely on NOAA’s services, day in and day out. The National Weather Service warns communities of incoming severe weather, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes. It provides information to emergency managers and decision-makers to support our nation’s commerce – including aviation weather forecasts to prevent weather-related aviation disasters. Trump continues to leave Americans across the nation behind by ripping the rug out from under the programs they depend on most.

“This is also a blatant attempt to further the climate denialism that animates industry, and by extension, the Trump administration. It’s no secret that Trump and Big Oil donors want to ignore the science and erase all mention of climate change from the books. And their game plan is deviously simple: dismantle the agencies at the forefront of climate action and get rid of anyone who stands in their way. Fossil fuel-backed groups and their allies in Congress have been trying to do this for years – and now that Trump has handed over the keys to the castle to an unelected billionaire, they’re burning it down. This string of egregious, illegal power grabs and attacks on our democracy cannot stand.” 

BACKGROUND

Trump’s Project 2025 laid the groundwork for these attacks: 

  • Page 664: “The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.” 

  • Page 675: “Break up NOAA, focus NWS [National Weather Service] on commercial operations.”

  • Pages 675-676: “Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity [...] OAR is, however, the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism. The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded.”

NOAA is responsible for dozens of programs that Americans depend on every day that are all at risk under Trump’s Project 2025 and the Elon purge. Key services and functions at risk include:

  • Cutting-edge science that provides real-time weather information across the United States that our apps and forecasters depend on, free of charge

  • Programs that provide ocean safety data forshippers and port operators, ensuring the safe deliveryofconsumer goods we rely on every day

  • Critical monitoring and warning systems for chronic flooding, tsunamis, wildfires, hurricanes, and other extreme weather events

  • Programs that monitor the seafood supply chain for food safety, fraud, and human rights violations

  • Fisheries programs that help provide sustainable sources of income for thousands of small fishing businesses across the United States

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