[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5425]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        NOAA PROPOSES FURLOUGHS

  (Ms. EDWARDS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, like many Americans, I began my morning 
this morning with a check of the local weather forecast. It actually 
helps me answer questions, important questions, such as what should I 
wear, do I need an umbrella, or is a storm approaching that's going to 
tie up traffic.
  The weather forecast is really important, but too often it's taken 
for granted. And, unfortunately, thanks to the Republican insistence 
that sequester cuts take effect, our access to these timely and 
reliable weather forecasts may be impacted negatively.
  On Monday, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, which 
includes the National Weather Service, proposed 4 furlough days, with a 
potential for 10. The cash-strapped Weather Service provides 
predictions for the ever-more-frequent extreme weather events, such as 
Superstorm Sandy, the historic drought impacting our agricultural 
sector last year, and the tornados that ravished the South in 2011.
  On a daily basis, it impacts the lives of Americans across the 
country. Even today, severe storms are ravaging the midsection of the 
country. The Weather Service is already understaffed. Sequestration 
could further deteriorate forecasting abilities. So, once again, 
they've made indiscriminate spending cuts our top priority. We need to 
stop this and protect our economic safety and our national security.

                          ____________________