U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, and other Florida congressional members have written a bipartisan letter to top House and Senate leaders pressing them to include money to modernize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) hurricane hunter aircraft fleet in any upcoming emergency disaster relief supplemental package.
The funding, as requested in the Biden administration's recent supplemental request, would enable NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations to complete construction of two new hurricane hunter planes already in progress and acquire a third.
The modernization effort is vital to maintaining the nation's hurricane and extreme weather forecasting capabilities, say the lawmakers.
“With increasingly severe hurricane seasons, communities across the nation are relying more than ever on NOAA’s life-saving storm tracking and forecasting capabilities,” said Wasserman Schultz in a statement. “By investing in new hurricane hunter aircraft now, we ensure that NOAA can continue to protect lives, property, and entire communities from the growing threats of extreme weather.”
Other South Florida lawmakers signing the letter: U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, R-Miami, U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R−Miami, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D−Miami Gardens, and U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D−Parkland.
Just before lawmakers left Washington in September, they passed a short-term extension of government funding to avoid a shutdown before the election. They still need to pass full-year spending bills for the current fiscal year, or at least another extension, by Dec. 20, during a lame-duck session — that period between Election Day and the end of the two-year congressional term in January.
A Republican aide in the House and another in the Senate not authorized to speak publicly about internal planning told The Associated Press it is likely that Congress will pass another short-term extension into early next year rather than complete work on the bills.
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