The Big Story 

The Trump administration is holding up National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant funding.

© Photo by NOAA via Getty Images

Earlier this month, the University of Colorado released a statement saying that a federal pause on grant funding has put scientists who collect data about the atmosphere “at risk for elimination.”

It specifically pointed to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), saying it “has not released these funds.”

Waleed Abdalati, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), told The Hill that about 30 days before the institute was slated to run out of funds to pay the scientists in question, “we were informed that NOAA has put a pause on all grant actions.”

“We are all told to assume no funding is moving through the grants management division until a spend plan has been approved,” he said. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, which funds NOAA, said that holding up the money violates the law. 

“On a bipartisan basis, we rejected Trump’s attempt last year to slash NOAA’s budget — making clear that the Administration must continue programs to predict and track extreme weather, support the fishing industry, boost the resilience of our coastal communities, and more,” Van Hollen said in a statement to The Hill.

“But [OMB director] Russ Vought is ignoring these directives from Congress by preventing the obligation of funds, a clear violation of the law. It’s time for Vought to follow the law and release the funds as Congress intended for the public services that NOAA provides, which are vital to our economy,” he added. 

Read more at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin  — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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