The bill
Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
HR. 5089, 119th Congress — read as touching Agribusiness.
Sponsored by
Rep. Lucas, Frank D. [R-OK-3]
ID: L000491
Follow the money
The bill
HR. 5089, 119th Congress — read as touching Agribusiness.
The sponsor
Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.
The money
23 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.
The alignment
This bill's text tracks the "Department of Commerce" section, p. 708-710 of the Mandate for Leadership.
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
September 9, 2025
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Another bill from the esteemed members of Congress, no doubt crafted with the utmost care and consideration for the well-being of the American people. (Sarcasm alert!)
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025 is a reauthorization of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. The main purpose is to improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) weather research, support improvements in weather forecasting and prediction, expand commercial opportunities for the provision of weather data, and... wait for it... "for other purposes." How delightfully vague.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill reauthorizes various programs and initiatives related to weather research, forecasting, and innovation. It also expands commercial opportunities for weather data, because who doesn't love a good profit motive in the midst of natural disasters? Some notable provisions include:
* Reauthorization of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 * Expansion of commercial opportunities for weather data * Amendments to the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998 (because who doesn't love a good algae bloom?) * Establishment of an Earth prediction innovation center (because we clearly need more bureaucratic centers)
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects:
* NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) * Commercial weather data providers (i.e., companies that will profit from this bill) * The general public (who will likely be none the wiser about the intricacies of this bill, but may benefit from improved weather forecasting... or not)
**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a classic case of "more of the same." It reauthorizes existing programs and initiatives without addressing any underlying issues. The expansion of commercial opportunities for weather data will likely lead to more privatization of public goods, because that's always worked out well in the past (cough, cough, healthcare). The amendments to existing laws are minor and don't address any significant problems.
In short, this bill is a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. It's a token effort to appear proactive while doing little to actually improve weather forecasting or mitigate the effects of natural disasters. But hey, at least it's something, right? (Sarcasm alert!)
Diagnosis: This bill suffers from a severe case of "Legislative Lethargy Syndrome" – a condition characterized by a lack of meaningful action, excessive bureaucratic jargon, and an overall failure to address the underlying problems. Treatment: a healthy dose of skepticism, a pinch of cynicism, and a whole lot of eye-rolling.
Rep. Lucas, Frank D. [R-OK-3]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
This bill has 10 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
ID: L000397
Top Contributors
10
ID: B001291
Top Contributors
10
ID: B001278
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10
ID: W000814
Top Contributors
10
ID: S001215
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ID: F000459
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10
ID: R000305
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ID: F000472
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ID: F000477
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ID: H001099
Top Contributors
10
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 46 nodes and 38 connections (39 secondary connections hidden)
Total contributions: $115,450
Showing top 20 donors by contribution amount
Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 10 helped.
Title V, Section 501 establishes pilot projects for agriculture in the central United States, improving weather and climate information for agriculture, which benefits agribusiness through better forecasting for crop planning and risk management.
Title V, Section 501 specifically targets agriculture in the central United States for improved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation forecasts, directly aiding crop producers with better planting and harvest timing decisions.
Section 404 requires the National Weather Service to improve its instant messaging service by implementing a commercial off-the-shelf communications solution hosted on the public cloud, which benefits telecommunications providers through increased demand for cloud and communications infrastructure.
Section 108 establishes a Computing Research Initiative that leverages Department of Energy high performance computers, cloud computing, and expertise to run advanced coupled models, and Section 304 promotes data infrastructure using commercial cloud technologies and hybrid structures, directly benefiting AI and cloud infrastructure providers.
Title V, Section 501's focus on agriculture in the central United States includes livestock-related sectors indirectly, as improved weather forecasts support feed production and herd management, benefiting meat and dairy processors like Tyson Foods.
Section 305 establishes a data assimilation university consortium that utilizes modern software and frameworks like the Joint Effort for Data Assimilation Integration, and Section 304 promotes partnerships with federal agencies including NASA and DOE to collocate data with joint utility and support transition to cloud architectures, creating opportunities for cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
+ 4 more industries not shown.
For each industry this bill affects, here's what the sponsor (Rep. Lucas, Frank D. [R-OK-3])received from donors associated with that industry during the 2022–present cycles. Donations are not proof of intent — they are a record of who funds the people writing the law.
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.
AI Analysis:
"The bill strongly aligns with Project 2025's emphasis on commercializing weather data services, expanding private sector opportunities, and improving NOAA's efficiency through interagency collaboration and performance-based operations, despite differing views on NOAA's role in climate science."
— 675 — Department of Commerce l The National Ocean Service (NOS); l The Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR); l The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS); l The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); and l The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and NOAA Corps. Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful func- tions. It should be broken up and downsized. NOAA today boasts that it is a provider of environmental information services, a provider of environmental stewardship services, and a leader in applied scientific research. Each of these functions could be provided commercially, likely at lower cost and higher quality. Focus the NWS on Commercial Operations. Each day, Americans rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges that are produced not by the NWS, but by private companies such as AccuWeather. Studies have found that the forecasts and warnings provided by the private com- panies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS.2 The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its data-gathering services. Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations. NOAA does not currently utilize commercial partnerships as some other agencies do. Commercialization of weather technologies should be prioritized to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested in the most cost-efficient technol- ogies for high quality research and weather data. Investing in different sizes of commercial partners will increase competition while ensuring that the govern- ment solutions provided by each contract is personalized to the needs of NOAA’s weather programs. The NWS should be a candidate to become a Performance-Based Organization to better enforce organizational focus on core functions such as efficient delivery of accurate, timely, and unbiased data to the public and to the private sector.3 Review the Work of the National Hurricane Center and the National Environmental Satellite Service. The National Hurricane Center and National Environmental Satellite Service data centers provide important public safety and
AI Analysis:
"The bill supports NOAA's weather research and forecasting while expanding commercial opportunities for weather data, which partially aligns with Project 2025's emphasis on commercializing NOAA functions and reducing government involvement in forecasting. However, the bill does not advocate for breaking up or downsizing NOAA, nor does it challenge climate change research, creating only moderate thematic overlap."
— 675 — Department of Commerce l The National Ocean Service (NOS); l The Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR); l The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS); l The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS); and l The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and NOAA Corps. Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful func- tions. It should be broken up and downsized. NOAA today boasts that it is a provider of environmental information services, a provider of environmental stewardship services, and a leader in applied scientific research. Each of these functions could be provided commercially, likely at lower cost and higher quality. Focus the NWS on Commercial Operations. Each day, Americans rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges that are produced not by the NWS, but by private companies such as AccuWeather. Studies have found that the forecasts and warnings provided by the private com- panies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS.2 The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its data-gathering services. Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations. NOAA does not currently utilize commercial partnerships as some other agencies do. Commercialization of weather technologies should be prioritized to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested in the most cost-efficient technol- ogies for high quality research and weather data. Investing in different sizes of commercial partners will increase competition while ensuring that the govern- ment solutions provided by each contract is personalized to the needs of NOAA’s weather programs. The NWS should be a candidate to become a Performance-Based Organization to better enforce organizational focus on core functions such as efficient delivery of accurate, timely, and unbiased data to the public and to the private sector.3 Review the Work of the National Hurricane Center and the National Environmental Satellite Service. The National Hurricane Center and National Environmental Satellite Service data centers provide important public safety and — 676 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise business functions as well as academic functions, and are used by forecasting agen- cies and scientists internationally. Data continuity is an important issue in climate science. Data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate. Transfer NOS Survey Functions to the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Geo- logical Survey. Survey operations have historically accounted for almost half the NOS budget. These functions could be transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Geological Survey to increase efficiency. NOS’ expansion of the National Marine Sanctuaries System should also be reviewed, as discussed below. Streamline NMFS. Overlap exists between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Overly simplified, the NMFS handles saltwater species while the Fish and Wildlife Service focuses on fresh water. The goals of these two agencies should be streamlined. Harmonize the Magnuson–Stevens Act with the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Under the auspices of NOS, marine sanctuaries (including no-fishing zones) are being established country-wide, often conflicting with the goals of the Magnu- son–Stevens Act fisheries management authorities of NOAA Fisheries, regional fishery management councils, and relevant states. Withdraw the 30x30 Executive Order and Associated America the Beautiful Ini- tiative. The 30x30 Executive Order and the American the Beautiful Initiative are being used to advance an agenda to close vast areas of the ocean to commercial activities, including fishing, while rapidly advancing offshore wind energy devel- opment to the detriment of fisheries and other existing ocean-based industries. Modify Regulations Implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. These acts are currently being abused at a cost to fisheries and Native American subsistence activities around the U.S. Allow a NEPA Exemption for Fisheries Actions. All the requirements for robust analysis of the biological, economic, and social impacts of proposed regulatory action in fisheries are contained with the Magnuson–Stevens Act, the guiding Act for fisheries. NEPA overlays these requirements with onerous, redundant, and time-consuming process requirements, which routinely cause unnecessary delays in the promulgation of timely fisheries management actions. The Department of Commerce and the Council on Environmental Quality should collaborate to reduce this redundancy. Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. OAR provides theoretical science, as opposed to the applied science of the National Hurricane Center. OAR is, however, the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism. The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded. OAR is a large network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities. These operations should be reviewed with an aim of consolidation and reduction of bloat.
AI Analysis:
"The bill focuses on reauthorizing and enhancing NOAA's weather research and forecasting capabilities, while Project 2025's Department of Commerce section emphasizes downsizing climate research (specifically OAR), transferring NOS functions, and reducing regulatory burdens—objectives that are not addressed or supported by the bill and in some cases conflict with its provisions."
— 676 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise business functions as well as academic functions, and are used by forecasting agen- cies and scientists internationally. Data continuity is an important issue in climate science. Data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate. Transfer NOS Survey Functions to the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Geo- logical Survey. Survey operations have historically accounted for almost half the NOS budget. These functions could be transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Geological Survey to increase efficiency. NOS’ expansion of the National Marine Sanctuaries System should also be reviewed, as discussed below. Streamline NMFS. Overlap exists between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Overly simplified, the NMFS handles saltwater species while the Fish and Wildlife Service focuses on fresh water. The goals of these two agencies should be streamlined. Harmonize the Magnuson–Stevens Act with the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Under the auspices of NOS, marine sanctuaries (including no-fishing zones) are being established country-wide, often conflicting with the goals of the Magnu- son–Stevens Act fisheries management authorities of NOAA Fisheries, regional fishery management councils, and relevant states. Withdraw the 30x30 Executive Order and Associated America the Beautiful Ini- tiative. The 30x30 Executive Order and the American the Beautiful Initiative are being used to advance an agenda to close vast areas of the ocean to commercial activities, including fishing, while rapidly advancing offshore wind energy devel- opment to the detriment of fisheries and other existing ocean-based industries. Modify Regulations Implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. These acts are currently being abused at a cost to fisheries and Native American subsistence activities around the U.S. Allow a NEPA Exemption for Fisheries Actions. All the requirements for robust analysis of the biological, economic, and social impacts of proposed regulatory action in fisheries are contained with the Magnuson–Stevens Act, the guiding Act for fisheries. NEPA overlays these requirements with onerous, redundant, and time-consuming process requirements, which routinely cause unnecessary delays in the promulgation of timely fisheries management actions. The Department of Commerce and the Council on Environmental Quality should collaborate to reduce this redundancy. Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. OAR provides theoretical science, as opposed to the applied science of the National Hurricane Center. OAR is, however, the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism. The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded. OAR is a large network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities. These operations should be reviewed with an aim of consolidation and reduction of bloat. — 677 — Department of Commerce Break Up the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and Reassign Its Assets to Other Agencies During This Process. The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, which provides the ships and planes used by NOAA agencies, should be broken up and its assets reassigned to the General Services Administra- tion or to other agencies. Use Small Innovation Prizes and Competitions to Encourage High-Qual- ity Research. Lowering the barriers of entry for startups and small businesses will also provide greater innovation without excessive increases in spending. Reaching beyond traditional partnerships for innovative engagement tools that encourage entrepreneurial innovation will allow NOAA’s research programs to adapt more quickly to the world’s changing needs. Multiple competitions should take place in cities to attract a variety of innovators and investors to propel innovation forward in a way that benefits the needs of NOAA. Ensure Appointees Agree with Administration Aims. Scientific agencies like NOAA are vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims if political appointees are not wholly in sync with Administration policy. Particular attention must be paid to appointments in this area. Elevate the Office of Space Commerce. The Office of Space Commerce is the executive branch advocate on behalf of the U.S. commercial space industry. This office should be the vehicle for a new Administration to set a robust and unified whole-of-government commercial space policy that cements U.S. lead- ership in one of the most crucial industries of the future. The Office’s current mission has been lost owing to its position within NESDIS, which sees no role for itself in advancing the industry and the space economy, including ensuring global competitiveness. OSC is, by law, the Department of Commerce’s lead on space policy and must therefore link directly to all the bureaus and other orga- nizations within the department. The Office needs to be returned to OS, within which it existed for the first two decades of its existence. From OS, the Office could serve as a coordinating entity for the whole-of-government commercial space policy desperately needed to secure America’s place as the global leader in commercial space operations. There presently exists no unified U.S. government policy on commercial space operations, with the Federal Communications Commission largely responsible for establishing space policy by default through its regulation of radio spectrum licenses. Now that routine space operations are commercially viable, it is critical that a new Administration establish reasonable government policies that ensure the U.S. will continue to be the flag of choice for commercial space activities. The President should, by executive order, direct the Office of Space Commerce, working with the National Space Council, to establish a whole-of-government policy for licensing and oversight of commercial space operations.
Showing 3 of 5 policy matches
Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.
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