By Sabrina Valenti
Every summer brings the familiar joys of sunny weather, family barbecues, and beach vacations. But for Americans on the Gulf or Atlantic coasts, the daily weather forecast always comes with a constant thrum of worry — any small disturbance in the Atlantic has the potential to evolve into a major storm.
And as hurricane season gets underway, the palace intrigue, staffing cuts, and general upheaval of the Trump administration could have dire effects for people on these coasts.
We know hurricanes all too well. I was still in elementary school when we had to evacuate for Ivan and fret over Dennis in my small northwest Florida hometown. And I was in middle school in 2006, when refugees from Katrina were still pouring into my school district to enroll in my class — since their schools no longer existed.
I was in college at Louisiana State University when torrential rains flooded Baton Rouge in 2016. And just one year later, Hurricane Harvey stalled over southwest Louisiana, causing catastrophic flooding in that corner of the state.
I’m no stranger to natural disasters, and that’s exactly why I felt called to spend my career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — one of many federal agencies that work together to both predict hurricanes and repair the damage when one strikes.
Each hurricane can feel like an act of God. Why this storm? Why now? Why my town, and why me? The longer I worked at NOAA, the more I came to appreciate how many experts work together to predict these storms and respond to them.
I wasn’t a storm chaser or a hurricane expert. I managed the budget for a major coastal wetland restoration program called the Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act.
CWPPRA is a piece of legislation spearheaded back in 1990 by Senator John Breaux of Louisiana. Five federal agencies work together to implement CWPPRA projects that build back land along Louisiana’s coastline, and NOAA alone has already restored 14,000 acres of coastal land since the law was passed 35 years ago.
Some of NOAA’s restoration projects protect the shrimp fisheries that are vital to Louisiana’s economy. Others restore habitats for migratory birds as they pass through Louisiana on their long journeys north or south. Some reinforce levees to protect crucial hurricane evacuation routes. And others still restore land that was lost in Hurricane Katrina.
It’s hard to overstate what a great investment coastal restoration is. Dozens of other government employees and I worked hard every day to design effective projects and get money out the door so that local Louisiana businesses could build land on what used to be open water.
At first glance, it might seem like my program has nothing to do with hurricane preparedness. But as any Southerner knows about hurricanes, the further inland you are, the safer you are.
That land protects every Louisianan, especially the poorest residents who are least likely to evacuate when a storm makes landfall, and most likely to suffer the consequences. And when Louisiana is protected from storm damage, that’s money FEMA doesn’t have to spend to rebuild destroyed schools, homes, and highways.
But unfortunately, NOAA — and the CWPPRA program specifically — is among the victims of this administration’s slash-and-burn tactics. And I’m one of thousands of NOAA employees who’ve lost their jobs since the president took office in January.
Without my financial expertise, money isn’t getting out the door to rebuild South Louisiana. Cuts to FEMA loom on the horizon. And soon, hurricane season will ramp up ferociously. I worry about my hometown in Florida, the people of South Louisiana, and everyone in states affected by hurricanes.
It’s not too late to protect the federal workers who remain in their roles working on hurricane preparedness. Much of the damage from hurricanes this summer can be restored, but you can’t bring back the dead.
Sabrina B. Valenti is a Florida native and Louisiana State University graduate who has spent her career working in government budgeting and finance.
Jake from state farm says
It seems you’re bearing the brunt of a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy that exists across nearly every federal agency. While some may label recent budget reductions as “slash and burn,” I see them as necessary steps toward fiscal responsibility. We need to critically assess what programs are truly essential and ensure that our tax dollars are being used wisely and effectively—not simply funneled into massive bureaucracies with little to no oversight or accountability.
Far too often, Congress allocates funding with little scrutiny over how those funds are actually used. Bureaucrats spend taxpayer money with limited transparency, and the results are rarely evaluated in terms of impact or necessity.
You mentioned cuts to FEMA—an agency that plays a vital role in disaster relief. That’s a valid concern. But it raises a deeper question: How do we justify millions of FEMA dollars being spent on individuals who entered the country illegally, while American citizens who have lost everything due to natural disasters are left to survive in tents through the winter? That kind of imbalance is not only unfair—it’s unacceptable. Our first obligation should be to those who are already part of our communities and have paid into the system.
This isn’t just about reducing spending—it’s about restoring priorities, demanding accountability, and making sure that government actually serves the people it claims to represent.
Marlee says
Jake…….
Did you know that the NOAA cuts, include a proposed 27% reduction in overall funding?………..threatening critical climate research, accurate weather forecasting…AND…
impacting everything from hurricane predictions which impact public safety, the economy, and national security.
Jake from state farm says
Marlee, it’s time to choose priorities.
Do we want to fund critical programs like NOAA, or do we keep pouring taxpayer dollars into questionable overseas projects and performative politics?
Consider this list of spending:
$1.5 million to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Serbian workplaces.
$70,000 for a DEI-themed musical in Ireland.
$47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia.
$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.
$20 million to create a Sesame Street-style show in Iraq.
$2 million for Moroccan pottery classes and marketing.
$2 million to promote tourism in Lebanon.
$15 million sent to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for “reproductive health supplies,” including oral contraceptives and condoms.
$6 million to support tourism in Egypt.
$2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam.
On top of this, U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for congressional Democrats to travel to El Salvador — not to strengthen border security or trade — but to meet with a convicted MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, and domestic abuser who illegally entered the U.S., in an effort to bring him back.
This isn’t strategic foreign policy. It’s not humanitarian aid. It’s not even cultural diplomacy. It’s theater — expensive, taxpayer-funded theater.
If we truly care about protecting institutions like NOAA and ensuring domestic priorities are funded, we have to start drawing the line on wasteful, performative, and ideologically driven spending. When will you and the left start supporting the efforts about all the waste that is being cut and stop playing politics? At that point you will be taken seriously.
Every dollar spent on this kind of nonsense chips away at public trust and undermines serious needs here at home.