WASHINGTON — As a winter storm barreled down on the Northeast, President Donald Trump encouraged the public to heed warnings from the National Weather Service — an agency whose budget he has proposed slashing.
The president shared the agency’s snowfall forecast and winter warning and advisory map to Twitter on Monday.
“Everyone along the east coast be safe and listen to local officials as a major winter storm approaches,” Trump wrote.
Vice President Mike Pence also urged people to follow the NWS for updates.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has proposed making significant cuts to the budgets for both the NWS and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA’s overall budget could be slashed by 17 percent, according to a four-page budget memo obtained by The Washington Post. The OMB has also suggested cutting the agency’s satellite data division by $513 million, or 22 percent. NOAA satellites are crucial to today’s weather forecasts and monitoring climate change.
Additionally, the administration is reportedly eyeing a 5 percent budget cut at the NWS.
“Cutting NOAA’s satellite budget will compromise NOAA’s mission of keeping Americans safe from extreme weather and providing forecasts that allow businesses and citizens to make smart plans,” Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator under President Barack Obama, told The Washington Post.
Several people posted about the importance of the federal agencies ― as well as the irony of what Trump and Pence had tweeted.