Sam Farr: “I am rising today to discuss this bill because it cuts the NOAA funding by 15 percent and ignores essentially the two…”

“I am rising today to discuss this bill because it cuts the NOAA funding by 15 percent and ignores essentially the two in-depth ocean reports released to Congress this past year. I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), the ranking member, for a commitment that they made during the full committee markup to work to increase the funding levels for the 'National Ocean Service' and for the National Marine Fishery Service during conference. I appreciate their acknowledgment that the levels need to be increased. I also want to thank our ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), for stating his concern on the NOAA funding cuts. I am deeply concerned about NOAA. With the commitments in mind, I want to highlight the funding levels for some of the NOAA programs. The hardest hit, and I would reference a bipartisan letter that was sent to the Committee on Appropriations by 59 Members of the House, the Coastal Zone Management Grants and the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Grants, both of which States heavily rely on. Florida, for example, loses $345,000; Virginia has a net loss of $620,000; California also has a net loss of $620,000. This may not seem like much when we are usually dealing in millions and billions, but to the States who rely on these funds for ongoing coastal zone management and nonpoint source grants, it is a great deal of money.”