Trump Is Attacking Climate Science. Scientists Are Fighting Back.

The three flagship U.S. climate-modeling centers have all been targeted too. In April, NOAA cut $4 million in funding for the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, claiming that the lab promotes “exaggerated and implausible climate threats” and “climate anxiety.” In May, NASA evicted the Goddard Institute for Space Studies from its 59-year home on the Columbia campus, iconically located above the Seinfeld diner. GISS has yet to find a new building, and the federal government remains on the hook to Columbia for the lease—so the eviction has resulted in zero taxpayer savings, merely a transfer of expense from one federal agency to another.

The GISS eviction perhaps served as a model for a broader assault on science as a whole. In June, the administration decided to evict the entire National Science Foundation from its building in Alexandria, Virginia. Like the GISS scientists, NSF staff are now working remotely while a new office is being sought. In December, the White House Office of Management and Budget announced that the administration would dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a leading global center not only for climate modeling but also for atmospheric and space weather research more broadly. Announcing the move, OMB Director Russell Vought called NCAR “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.” The administration made no pretense that this decision originated with the science agency, which rushed to catch up with the White House announcement.

The president’s vision for the federal budget