NOAA will not furlough 12,000 workers next month because of sequestration after it secured “an increase in flexibility” to manage its budget cuts, acting NOAA Administrator Kathy Sullivan said.
“The events over the past week, including more devastating tornadoes tonight in Oklahoma and Missouri, remind us how important every single employee within NOAA is to the health, safety and well-being of this nation,” Sullivan wrote in a memo to employees on Friday,
according to Politico.
Tornados in Oklahoma on Friday — the second round of fatal storms to strike the region in 11 days — killed nine people and injured more than 100.
In Missouri, severe thunderstorms dumped more than five inches of rain and caused flash flooding throughout the central part of the state.
NOAA got a boost last month from GOP Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, who oversees the Commerce Department’s budget as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee, Politico reports.
He said the agency would receive more budget flexibility so it will not have to furlough workers beginning the July Fourth holiday.
Sullivan told employees in her memo that the Commerce Department had submitted a plan to Congress that will avoid all agency furloughs.
“Sequestration remains an ongoing challenge,” she said in the memo, but added that NOAA would manage it via a hiring freeze, limited travel and training, and cuts in grant and contract funding, Politico reports.
“We must all continue to scrutinize every expense and prioritize our most critical missions and essential operations,” Sullivan said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.