S. 324 (119th)Bill Overview

Smarter Weather Forecasting for Water Management, Farming, and Ranching Act of 2025

Science, Technology, Communications|Science, Technology, Communications
Cosponsors
Support
Democratic
Introduced
Jan 29, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p><strong>Smarter Weather Forecasting for Water Management, Farming, and Ranching Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish pilot projects to support improved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation forecasting for water management in the western United States and for agriculture nationwide. (Under current law, <em>subseasonal</em> means the time range between two weeks and three months, and <em>seasonal</em> means the time range between three months and two years.)</p><p>Specifically, NOAA must establish a pilot project to address challenges to improving forecasting and related product development for water management in the western United States. The project must address, among other items, improvements to operational modeling in mountainous regions and to the forecasting of atmospheric rivers.&nbsp;</p><p>NOAA must also establish a second pilot project to address challenges to improving forecasting and related product development for U.S. agriculture.

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.

<p><strong>Smarter Weather Forecasting for Water Management, Farming, and Ranching Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish pilot projects to support improved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation forecasting for water management in the western United States and for agriculture nationwide. (Under current law, <em>subseasonal</em> means the time range between two weeks and three months, and <em>seasonal</em> means the time range between three months and two years.)</p><p>Specifically, NOAA must establish a pilot project to address challenges to improving forecasting and related product development for water management in the western United States.

The project must address, among other items, improvements to operational modeling in mountainous regions and to the forecasting of atmospheric rivers.&nbsp;</p><p>NOAA must also establish a second pilot project to address challenges to improving forecasting and related product development for U.S. agriculture.

Passage38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Smarter Weather Forecasting for Water Management, Farming, and…

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
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