The Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Arizona, today sharply attacked a bill introduced by the Trump administration that would “decimate marine conservation efforts and put endangered whales at even greater risk.”
The Center was referring to the House Appropriations Committee’s FY26 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill, which it charged was laced with anti-science riders and deep funding cuts.
The bill cuts the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)by nearly $390 million, jeopardizing critical recovery programs, and includes numerous policy riders aimed at rolling back protections for the North Atlantic right whale and Rice’s whale, two of the most critically endangered animals on the planet.
The 6% reduction in funding all but ensures that NOAA will continue mass layoffs, paralyzing the agency’s ability to respond to the environmental, ecological and extinction crises.
“This bill doesn’t just gut NOAA, it harpoons science and signs a death warrant for whales already teetering on the edge of extinction,” said Rachel Rilee, oceans policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “You don’t fix a budget by firing experts and greenlighting extinction. These lawmakers are proving that they work for whatever industry is writing the biggest checks — and if annihilation is the price, they’re more than willing to pay it.”
North Atlantic right whales are among the world’s most endangered whale species. More than 140 of them have been killed or injured since 2017. Now only 370 whales, including 70 breeding females, remain on Earth.
(Photo from Center for Biological Diversity)