McClellan Helps Advance Weather Act Reauthorization Out of House Science Committee

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, a member of the House Science, Space and Technology (SST) Committee, joined her colleagues in a markup of H.R. 6093, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act, to strengthen the United States’ forecasting and emergency preparedness. 

Among its provisions, the Weather Act Reauthorization improves research, observations forecasting, and public communications regarding extreme weather events. McClellan offered an amendment to prioritize the assessment of storm impacts on under-observed, underserved, and highly vulnerable populations. 

“As our nation and the global community continue to grapple with increasingly severe weather events, we must do more to effectively prepare, monitor, and recover from their impacts. The Weather Act Reauthorization is an important piece of legislation to ensure the United States can more accurately forecast dangerous weather events and support impacted communities,” said Congresswoman McClellan. “As a member of the House Science Committee, I was proud to help advance this bill out of committee. I am thrilled the bill included my amendment to prioritize the needs of marginalized communities, who are disproportionately impacted by severe weather and climate degradation. We must continue to comprehensively gather data regarding the impacts of these weather events, so the federal government can properly respond to communities’ needs.” 

H.R. 6093 updates the Weather Act of 2017, the first comprehensive weather policy legislation in more than two decades, which was passed on a bipartisan basis. The 2017 bill bolstered America’s weather forecasting tools and improved collaboration and coordination between various entities in the weather enterprise. 

Watch Rep. McClellan’s remarks here and the full committee markup here.