The House of Representatives on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill that includes a $24 billion allocation for the Energy Department to weather satellite programs and $3.7 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to spend on climate research, the largest expenditure on climate research since 1977.
The appropriations bill, which passed 385-36, would give the National Institutes of Health $31.2 billion in funding, $9.5 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency, $5.8 billion for the State Department and $12.5 billion for the Treasury Department, according to a House Democratic aide.
The bill also includes $1.8 billion for wildfire-fighting efforts, $2.6 billion for land protection, $640 million for flood management, $1.3 billion for the opioid crisis and $2.5 billion for cybersecurity, according to the aide.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that the bill will be the largest on record for the United States government.
For the weather satellite programs at the Energy Department, $5.9 billion would go to the Advanced Technology Program for two GeoSSAT geostationary satellites and a set of Earth observation and environmental satellites and a $16.5 billion investment in the Polar Satellite System, which includes a polar-orbiting Advanced Baseline Imager that can study weather patterns, Atmospheric Operational Environmental Satellite (A-BOS) and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Program.
The legislation also includes $3.3 billion for the NOAA to use for Global Precipitation Measurement and other climate-related research, $1.6 billion for the National Ocean Service and the National Hurricane Center, and $641 million for Great Lakes research.