HR9647Referred to Committee

To prohibit the National Science Foundation from obligating or expending Federal funds to descope or decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments, and for other purposes.

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-07-13
Introduced
11
Cosponsors
HR
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Suzanne Bonamici
Suzanne Bonamici
Democrat · OR · Representative
Votes with party: 98.1% (642 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/B001278

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (11)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

2026-07-13

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Plain-English Summary

This bill prohibits the National Science Foundation (NSF) from using federal funds to decommission or descope Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) instruments until a thorough review of OOI is completed. OOI measures and observes ocean conditions using a series of in-water instruments that gather physical, chemical, geological, and biological data. On May 21, 2026, NSF announced that it would remove all in-water infrastructure from four of the five active OOI arrays. However, on June 18, 2026, NSF announced that it would not proceed with this decommissioning and would instead continue OOI operations and solicit input from stakeholders on the future of NSF's ocean observation efforts. NSF also indicated that it would redeploy one array that was removed from the water. Under the bill, NSF must conduct a thorough review of OOI with engagement from the scientific and coastal communities before decommissioning or descoping specified OOI instruments. This includes OOI instruments anchored off of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and North Carolina, as well as instruments anchored in the Irminger Sea. NSF is required to maintain full and consistent OOI operations, including monitoring in states where instruments have already been decommissioned, until the review is complete.

Plain-English rewrite of the Congressional Research Service summary published on Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed.

Subjects

Science, Technology, Communications

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

119 HR 9647 IH: To prohibit the National Science Foundation from obligating or expending Federal funds to descope or decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments, and for other purposes. U.S. House of Representatives 2026-07-13 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. I119th CONGRESS2d SessionH. R. 9647IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESJuly 13, 2026Ms. Bonamici (for herself, Mr. Moylan, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Ross, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Levin, Mr. Amo, Ms. Garcia of Texas, and Ms. Pingree) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and TechnologyA BILLTo prohibit the National Science Foundation from obligating or expending Federal funds to descope or decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments, and for other purposes. 1.Prohibition on NSF funding to descope or decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments; maintenance of operations (a)In generalNotwithstanding any other provision of law, the National Science Foundation may not obligate or expend any Federal funds to decommission or descope the Ocean Observatories Initiative instruments anchored off the States of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and North Carolina, and in the Irminger Sea, until the National Science Foundation conducts a thorough review of the Initiative, and the national assets that it provides, with robust stakeholder engagement from the scientific and coastal communities. (b)Maintenance of operationsThe Director of the National Science Foundation shall maintain the Ocean Observatories Initiative with full and consistent operations, including monitoring in all States that had instruments decommissioned, until the full review described in subsection (a) has been completed.
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