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Lawmakers press NOAA over staffing losses, rehiring and contracting bottlenecks at the Weather Service
Summary
Members accused prior workforce reductions of hollowing out local forecast offices and sought details on rehiring, vacancy lists and contracting delays; the NOAA witness described an active hiring campaign and pledged follow-up on office‑level staffing and contracts.
Ranking Member Ming told the subcommittee that the National Weather Service experienced substantial workforce reductions last year, saying "roughly 600 employees of the National Weather Service were lost to the probationary firings and early retirements," including meteorologists and frontline staff that help launch weather balloons and coordinate warnings. She and other members blamed strict contracting approval processes and a separate restructuring for creating operational bottlenecks and morale problems.
Assistant Secretary Taylor Jordan acknowledged the staffing shortfall and described NOAA’s ongoing recovery effort: "we are approved to hire over 400 new forecast office forecasters across the country. We have already sent final job offers to over 200 of them, and we have almost 200 already on board," he said. Jordan also agreed to provide the committee with a list of local forecast offices that currently have high vacancy rates and to supply a FY2026 spend plan documenting how appropriated funds will be used.
Members asked whether separated employees would be prioritized for rehire; Jordan said he would need to follow up with personnel offices on rehiring processes. Lawmakers repeatedly emphasized the public‑safety stakes of understaffed offices and the cost and morale impacts of the earlier separations, pressing for tangible steps to prevent recurrence.
On contracting, members cited examples they said resulted from a policy requiring Secretary‑level signoff on contracts above $100,000 and described near‑misses where routine facility repairs or IT access were delayed. Jordan told the panel NOAA is working with the Department of Commerce to ensure necessary contracts are processed in a timely way but did not provide a documented list of delayed awards during the hearing.
The subcommittee requested written follow‑up on several points: the department’s FY2026 spend plan, a list of offices with more than 20% vacancies and details on whether rehiring will prioritize previously separated employees. Jordan committed to providing additional information for the record.
