The Trump administration wants to ax about $2.2 billion in NOAA research endeavors, grant programs and other initiatives under its proposed 2026 budget, dramatically reshaping one of the government’s core science agencies.
In a recently released “budget justification” document laying out the full details of NOAA’s proposed budget, the administration takes aim at the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which it wants to dissolve, shifting much of its work to the National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.
Among the largest OAR programs the budget would terminate are 16 NOAA cooperative institutes that include 80 universities performing high-level research on an array of NOAA priorities, from earth systems modeling to ocean health to advanced weather radar. The administration would also eliminate the 50-year-old national Sea Grant program, which is widely supported by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
The administration said that by shifting research responsibilities to the National Ocean Service and National Weather Service, those line offices would see their operational budgets expand by $100 million and $98 million, respectively.
