US Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas is among several lawmakers in Congress seeking to exempt certain National Weather Service employees from federal hiring freezes.
Moran and others in the Senate are on board with the Federal Operational Resilience in Emergency Conditions and Storm Tracking, or FORECAST, Act. The goal of this legislation is to exempt positions specifically “responsible for issuing weather and flood warnings, maintaining critical observational equipment and protecting life and property.” Also as part of this legislation, the Commerce Secretary would have to file a report on staffing levels after one year if this is approved and signed by President Trump.
This follows work by Moran and others to exempt the Weather Service for the purpose of hiring meteorologists and other weather forecasters, following the Goodland forecast office’s inability to handle 24-7 forecasting duties because it couldn’t fill open positions — a similar situation to what has been happening at Council Grove Reservoir, where a full-time ranger position and several seasonal positions weren’t cleared for filling until late May due to Moran’s work. Those positions have not listed on the Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District website because the Corps needs official word from the Army before it can list and fill those slots.
