In this Bridge post, continued from our FY25 Appropriations Overview Part 1 blog, we’ll cover the House’s Interior-Environment, Energy-Water, and Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS) spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025—detailing relevant funding levels and sharing committee report highlights that impact the Earth and space sciences.   House Interior-Environment Appropriations bill and accompanying report.   United States Geological Survey (USGS)   FY2024 President’s Budget Request FY2025 AGU Request FY2025 House FY2025 USGS Overall $1,455.43 $1,578.30 $1,850.00 $1,374 ..read more

On Tuesday, 9 July the full House Appropriations Committee marked up their Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior and Environment, and Energy and Water spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2025. These bills collectively set the spending amounts for U.S. federal science agencies, including NASA, NOAA, NSF, USGS, EPA, the Department of Energy. Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Congress established spending caps for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The Act allows only a 1% increase in spending for FY2025 from FY2024 which greatly constrains funding. In this two-part Bridge post, we’ll detail the funding ..read more

On 9 July, AGU joined nearly 200 organizations in sending a letter to House Appropriations leadership expressing concern over proposed cuts to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor- HHS).   We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to share our opposition to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor- HHS) Appropriations bill as currently written. We are extremely concerned about the cuts to public health and biomedical research programs, including the $48 billion fund ..read more

On 20 June 2024, AGU joined other organizations sending a letter to leaders of the appropriations committees in the House and the Senate requesting funding for two LC-130J airplanes needed for research operations in the Arctic and Antarctic.    As you advance fiscal year (FY) 2025 appropriations, we urge you to fund procurement of two LC-130J airplanes in the Defense Appropriations bill. These airplanes are critically needed to safeguard U.S. access and operations in the Arctic and Antarctic where the U.S. has national security interests as well as world-leading scientific infrastruc ..read more

Letícia Santos de Lima, Ph.D is a Brazilian environmental scientist currently based in Barcelona. She is an environmental engineer by training and holds a PhD degree in Geography, spending her career developing a very interdisciplinary profile. Twitter/X handle: @Leticia_StLima LinkedIn handle:  Leticiaslima Website: https://leticialima.weebly.com/outreach.html   Tell us about yourself! Career level when you started the Voices program and where you are now, where is your work based? What is your goal of your current work? Please explain in a way that non-scientists could understand ..read more

Meet the 2024 Voices for Science Global Cohort!   [See image gallery at thebridge.agu.org] The post Meet the 2024 Voices for Science Global Cohort appeared first on The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy ..read more

On 16 March, AGU sent a letter with 27 other organizations urging sustained funding for various NOAA offices, including NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the National Ocean Service (NOS), as well as the various accounts that fund the Cooperative Institutes (CIs) in FY2025.   We, the undersigned members of the research, innovation, and environmental services community, write to urge strong sustained funding for NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the National Ocean Service (NOS), as well as the various accounts that fund the Cooperative Institute ..read more

We are pleased to welcome the 2024-2025 Voices for Science Cohort! Click each image to learn more about our participants. [See image gallery at thebridge.agu.org] The post 2024 Voices for Science Cohort appeared first on The Bridge: Connecting Science and Policy ..read more

On 16 May 2024, the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden, which included the Severe Turbulence Research and Development Act. Introduced by Representative Haley Stevens (MI-11) and endorsed by AGU, this legislation marks a critical milestone in our ongoing efforts to tackle the increasingly severe impacts of climate change on aviation safety. The Severe Turbulence Research and Development Act enhances the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) ability to monitor and comprehend severe turbulence, which has become a more ..read more

Satellite image of Hurricane Harvey AGU, the world’s largest Earth and space science association, applauds the bipartisan effort by Congress to pass The Weather Act Reauthorization, H.R. 6093, which promises to make weather forecasting in the U.S. more accurate.    AGU endorsed H.R. 6093 in November along with several other pieces of legislation that were added to this bill, including the National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act, H.R.1496; NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act, H.R.1482; and Tsunami Warning, Research, and Education Act Reauthorization Act, H.R.6234.&n ..read more