U.S. Representative Stephanie Bice, whose district includes Seminole County, urged leaders of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to not only prioritize their spending but to make sure there is adequate funding for the agency’s facilities at the University of Oklahoma.

Bice spoke Thursday at a House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Environment hearing titled “Advancing Earth System Science and Stewardship at NOAA.”

In her opening statement, Bice acknowledged the life and property-saving services conducted at the National Weather Center in Norman, but said NOAA must also ensure its buildings, instruments and entire infrastructure are worldclass.

“The meteorologists, oceanographers, biologists, and other researchers shouldn’t have to settle for outdated buildings and cramped laboratories,” Bice stated. “While I’m certainly not opposed to investing in NOAA’s life-saving products, we must ensure that the Administration is adequately prepared to handle an increased budget. This includes expedited hiring, upgrading infrastructure, ramping up new research projects, and a variety of other issue. A lump sum of money with no strings attached can be a curse before it is a blessing. Therefore, priorities must be set, and decisions must be made.”

The NOAA’s roots reach back more than 200 years. In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (as the Survey of the Coast) to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline. The Weather Bureau was founded 1870 and, one year later, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded. Individually, these organizations were America’s first physical science agency, America’s first agency dedicated specifically to the atmospheric sciences, and America’s first conservation agency.