At today's Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) questioned Dr. Neil Jacobs, of North Carolina, nominee to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
00:00For all the lives that have been lost and families that have been impacted, and to everyone that has been on the ground with all those first responders, all the volunteers just helping those families.
00:11As my colleagues may know, unfortunately, in New Mexico yesterday, the Rio Rio Doso rose to nearly 20 feet in a matter of minutes amid heavy rainfall, sweeping away homes, if you can believe that, in the flows.
00:26And we've already lost loved ones out that way.
00:32This is an area that was also ravaged by wildfire not too long ago, as we've all had conversations about what needs to be done with FEMA and others with wildfire, and then the flooding that follows for years and years to follow.
00:46Now, today we have witnesses that hope to serve at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with NOAA, which oversees the National Weather Service, which provides critical forecasting data that Americans rely on to protect their lives.
01:01We also know that emergency alerts and the work of NOAA and the National Weather Service does save lives.
01:07I appreciate your response, Dr. Jacobs, to the question from Senator Capito.
01:11However, Project 2025 has outlined a plan to commercialize the forecasting, which would force American taxpayers to pay private companies to access weather forecasts.
01:21Dr. Jacobs and Mr. Jordan, yes or no, do you think Americans should have to pay to access forecasting data to protect the safety of their families and homes from natural disasters?
01:33Dr. Jacobs?
01:34No.
01:35I think that that's an essential service that all Americans deserve.
01:39Mr. Jordan?
01:40I agree.
01:41No.
01:41Dr. Jacobs, in late May, I sent a letter to the National Weather Service along with several of my colleagues regarding the National Weather Service's decision to discontinue translations of weather alerts and forecasts into languages other than English.
01:55Those services have now been restored.
01:58This created a dangerous gap in access to emergency information for those nearly 68 million people in the United States that speak a language other than English at home.
02:08Yes or no, do you agree that people deserve to get emergency alerts in the language that they can understand?
02:14Yes.
02:15Yes or no, do you commit to ensuring that this lapse in translation doesn't happen again?
02:21If confirmed, making sure that the watches and warnings go out and they're understood is definitely a priority.
02:30Appreciate that.
02:30On September 1st, 2019, when you were NOAA's acting administrator, President Trump erroneously tweeted that Alabama had been hit hard by Hurricane Doreen.
02:41Shortly after the National Weather Service, Birmingham office issued the accurate statement, quote, Alabama will not see any impacts from Doreen.
02:49Three days later, President Trump went on TV and displayed a weather map altered with a black Sharpie line to show that Doreen would hit Alabama.
02:56Two days after that, you helped draft a release, an unsigned NOAA statement rebuking the Birmingham NWS and repeating President Trump's baseless claim that Hurricane Doreen could impact Alabama.
03:10You told the Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General in their investigation that you, quote, definitely felt like our jobs were on the line, close quote.
03:18And while you did not like it, you would make the same decision again to edit a less inflammatory statement as the least bad option.
03:26Mr. Jacobs or Dr. Jacobs, do you do I have it right?
03:30Is that correct?
03:32That's what the IDRI report found.
03:34Yes, that you would do nothing differently.
03:36I mean, there's probably some things I would do differently, and there's a lot of things that I did after that to, you know, I guess, change any potential future outcome.
03:49One of them was revamping.
03:50Let me ask this question, because I just had constituents die in New Mexico.
03:53We had constituents die in Texas.
03:56Would you sign off on an inaccurate statement due to political pressure in the same event, yes or no?
04:03No.
04:03I appreciate that very much.
04:06Mr. Kumar, Congress appropriated over $68 million to MBDA under the most recent funding bill.
04:12But now the Secretary Lutnik and the Trump administration have dismantled the MBDA, ignoring the law Congress passed in 2021.
04:21When Deputy Secretary DeBarre was before this committee in May, he committed to, quote,
04:25follow every dollar and report back to this committee regarding the status of MBDA.
04:29I have a letter here that I plan to send to Deputy Secretary, holding him to this commitment and asking a series of questions regarding MBDA funds and grants.
04:40Mr. Kumar, if confirmed, you'll be responsible for overseeing the Department's responses to Congress.
04:46Yes or no?
04:49Thank you for the question, Senator.
04:51Yes, I will be.
04:52So yes or no, will you commit to me that my colleagues and I will have the report Deputy Secretary DeBarre promised regarding the status of MBDA funds
05:00and complete answers to other questions within two weeks of your confirmation, if not before?
05:06Thank you for the question.
05:07If confirmed, I will go back to Deputy Secretary DeBarre on the letter you mentioned.
05:13We'll get a response within two weeks?
05:15I will make sure to get with him right away and try to provide as timely a response as possible.
05:21As timely a response?
05:22Less than two months?
05:26I will do my best to get it in the stated timeline.
05:29Less than six months?
05:32Again, I will do my best to get it to you in the stated timeline.
05:35Thank you, Madam Chair.
05:36It's challenging when, given an amount of time to respond timely, when all of these witnesses take oaths that they will respond timely to this committee,
05:45but when we even extend that time, that a simple answer of yes is just cannot be found.
05:51It's frustrating.
05:53Thank you for the time, Madam Chair.
05:56I recognize myself for five minutes, and I want to start by sending my condolences to the gentleman from New Mexico.
06:06I want to start by sending my condolences to the gentleman from New Mexico.
