The Senate Appropriations Committee defended essential Chesapeake Bay restoration and education programs from the Trump administration’s budget ax in the fiscal year 2026 spending plan for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) approved last week.
The Senate committee adopted the bill, which would fund the Department of Commerce, where NOAA is located, the Department of Justice, and federal science programs next year, by a vote of 19-10. It could advance to a vote on the Senate floor later this week.
The bill would set NOAA’s fiscal 2026 budget at $6.1 billion. That’s a $200 million decrease from the agency’s current budget of $6.3 billion. But it’s more than $1.5 billion over the White House proposal to slash it down to $4.5 billion.
While the White House called for eliminating funding for NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office and the rest of its habitat conservation and restoration work, the Senate Appropriations Committee would give the office another $1.5 million, on top of the existing $3 million, to restore the Bay’s oyster population. Oysters are a key driver of our seafood economy and clean water.
NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office leads restoration work and conducts research that helps protect native species like oysters, blue crabs, and striped bass; improves climate resilience in the region, and funds hands-on environmental education of the next generation of Bay stewards.
The Senate committee also rejected the administration’s bid to zero out NOAA environmental education funds, including for regional programs like the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training program (Chesapeake B-WET). Instead, the bill would continue funding to help schools teach students about their local environment at $8.7 million in fiscal 2026.
Notably, the committee recognized the need for more data about the population of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay. Menhaden are a small, oily fish that is a critical food source for other fish, birds, and whales on the Atlantic Coast. It would provide at least $2.5 million for NOAA and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to collect data on menhaden numbers in the Bay.
Virginia is home to the only industrial menhaden fishery on the Atlantic coast. Lobbying by the menhaden reduction industry has repeatedly blocked state proposals to fund the research needed to properly protect menhaden’s important role in the food chain.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Senior Policy Director Keisha Sedlacek released the following statement:
“NOAA is crucial to restoring the Bay and its waterways. NOAA programs support managing its valuable fisheries, enhancing our region’s resiliency, and educating the next generation of Bay stewards. The Senate Appropriations Committee rightly rejected the White House’s threat to eliminate support for a healthy Chesapeake Bay.
“Senators of both parties instead wisely recognized the value of continuing one of the largest and most successful oyster restoration efforts in the world and ensuring that students don’t lose the benefits of hands-on outdoor educational experiences in their local communities.
“The proposal to invest in menhaden research brings welcome federal focus to Virginia’s industrial menhaden fishery. CBF hopes it will spur Virginia to step up with additional funding to better manage this economically and ecologically valuable fishery.
“NOAA is the most important funder of environmental education in our region. Chesapeake B-WET helps teachers and students learn outside on the Bay and our local rivers and streams, oftentimes providing the only chance students will have to practice science in the real world.
“CBF thanks Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), Christopher Coons (D-Del.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for providing NOAA the funding it needs to keep its Bay restoration work moving forward in such a challenging fiscal environment.
“We encourage the House Appropriations Committee to join their Senate counterparts in giving Bay restoration funding the priority it deserves in its legislation.”
Washington, D.C. Communications & Media Relations Manager, CBF
lcaruso@cbf.org
202-793-4485
