On July 9, 2013 the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Environment held a markup of the Weather Forecasting and Improvement Act of 2013 (H.R. 2413).

The act would “prioritize and redirect” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) resources to weather forecasting rather than climate research. It would also allow the government to purchase weather data from commercial providers and would permit government weather instruments to fly on private satellites and private-sector instruments to fly on government satellites. For each fiscal year from 2014 through 2017 the bill would authorize $80 million for weather laboratories and cooperative institutes, $20 million for weather and air chemistry research, and $20 million for a joint technology transfer initiative.

Subcommittee Ranking Member Suzanne Bonamici criticized the bill’s focus on weather over climate, stating, “Experts say that it will be difficult to improve weather forecasting without improving our understanding of climatic forces.” She also argued that the bill neglects the important work of NOAA’s National Weather Service in favor of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and stated that the bill should do a better job of fostering coordination between the two.

Opening statements, amendments considered, and an archived webcast of the markup can be found on the committee’s website.