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Congressional Research Service
Informing the legislative debate since 1914
May 22, 2023
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
FY2024 Budget Request and Appropriations
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) is an agency in the Department of Commerce
whose mission is to understand and predict changes in
weather, climate, oceans, and coasts; to share that
information with others; and to conserve and manage
coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. NOAA's
work is divided among six line offices: National
Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
(NESDIS); National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS);
National Ocean Service (NOS); National Weather Service
(NWS); Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
(OAR); and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
(OMAO). NOAA also provides planning, leadership,
finances, information technology, educational
programming, and other support across the line offices,
known as Mission Support (MS).
Congress provides NOAA with annual mandatory and
discretionary appropriations. Mandatory appropriations,
which generally comprise a small percentage of total
NOAA funding, are disbursed to various accounts that
support programs in NOS, NMFS, and OMAO. NOAA's
discretionary appropriations typically are included in the
annual Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
appropriations acts. Discretionary appropriations support
two broad accounts-Operations, Research, and Facilities
(ORF) and Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction
(PAC)-as well as a few smaller accounts. This product
focuses on NOAA's FY2024 discretionary funding for ORF
and PAC. The product also notes potential topics of interest
for Congress, including NOAA's satellite operations,
science and data for economic development, and climate-
related products and services.
Agency Funding
NOAA requested $7.15 billion in discretionary direct
obligations for ORF and PAC for FY2024, including $6.76
billion in appropriations (Figure 1 and Table 1; NOAA
requested a total of $7.34 billion in direct obligations).
Direct obligations include annual appropriations, transfers,
and recoveries from prior year obligations. For FY2023,
Congress provided $6.54 billion in annual ORF and PAC
direct obligations and an additional $150.8 million in
supplemental funding through P.L. 117-328, for a total of
$6.69 billion (Table 1). According to NOAA, the
supplemental amounts are considered base or discretionary
funding designated as emergency. Additional
supplemental appropriations are described in the right
column. Figure 1 does not show the supplemental
appropriations. The NOAA FY2024 requested direct
obligations amount for ORF and PAC is $461.1 million
above the FY2023 enacted level.
Figure 1. ORF and PAC Annual Direct Obligations,
FY20 1 4-FY2024 ($ in billions, nominal and adjusted)
NOAA Requested C ongress Enated
$8Billions
Congress Enacted n 2024$
$7
$6
$5
$4
- a , 4 - - 4 ri r4 rJrJ C 4
oa a a a a 0 0 0 0 0
Sources: CRS, from NOAA budget justifications, congressional
explanatory statements, and Office of Management and Budget,
Historical Tables, Table 10.1.
Notes: ORF = Operations, Research, and Facilities; PAC =
Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction. Figure does not include
supplemental appropriations. Direct obligations include
appropriations, transfers, and recoveries from prior year obligations.
Supplemental Appropriations Available in FY2024
Congress also has provided NOAA with supplemental
appropriations for ORF and PAC to remain available
through FY2024 or beyond, including
* $52.2 million for PAC expenses related to hurricanes
and wildfires in 2020 and 2021 (P.L. 117-43);
* $2.23 billion for restoration, observation, modeling,
forecasting activities, and other purposes (Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act [IIJA]; P.L. 117-58);
* $3.31 billion for conservation, restoration, protection,
construction, reviews, research and forecasting,
computing capacity, aircraft acquisition, and other
purposes (Inflation Reduction Act of 2022; P.L. 117-
169); and
* $527.5 million for expenses related to hurricanes,
typhoons, flooding, and wildfires in 2022; fishing gear
and techniques; aircraft acquisition and other uses (P.L.
117-328, of which $150.8 million is included in Table 1
amounts).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govelsl0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)