Sam Farr: “I rise with this amendment to restore the whacking that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken in…”

“I rise with this amendment to restore the whacking that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken in this appropriation bill. My amendment restores the cuts to this year's current levels. I am not asking for an increase, merely a restoration of what the current level is, meeting the status quo. The earmark in the bill is 76 percent less than what the President requested. The subcommittee cut several programs from current levels. They cut the National Ocean Service. They cut the National Marine Fisheries Service. They cut the Oceanic and Atmosphere Research Service. They cut the National Environmental Satellite Service. They cut the Pacific Salmon Treaty program by $12 million, less than its current level funding. They cut the National Marine Sanctuary Program. The cuts, according to NOAA, will result in staffing cuts up to a thousand of our Federal employees that will have to be laid off at a time when we are in more need of good natural science information than any other time in history.”