By Isabella Torregiani
2:22pm PDT, Jul 8, 2025
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Before deadly floods devastated parts of Texas, Senator
Ted Cruz helped slash funding for weather forecasting as part of the Big, Beautiful Bill. Now, experts warn that his latest move could make predicting future disasters even more difficult.
Keep reading for more on the fallout… MORE:
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Tucked into the Big, Beautiful Bill, Ted Cruz added language — prior to its signing on Friday, July 4 — that eliminated a $150 million fund meant to "accelerate advances and improvements in research, observation systems, modeling, forecasting, assessments and dissemination of information to the public." After the bill passed, Cruz reportedly left for a vacation in Greece — just as severe floods began sweeping across his home state. Upon returning, he promised to address the crisis. "There's no doubt afterwards we are going to have a serious retrospective as you do after any disaster and say, 'OK, what could be done differently to prevent this disaster?'" Cruz told Fox News. "We've got to fix that and have a better system of warnings to get kids out of harm's way."
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The National Weather Service has faced scrutiny following the disaster, with reports suggesting it underestimated the rainfall that triggered the Texas floods. While the service did issue late-night alerts, officials have confirmed that the timing and coordination with local emergency agencies will now be formally reviewed.
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Environmental advocates say Ted Cruz's cuts are part of a larger pattern — and one with deadly consequences. "Ted Cruz has spent years doing big oil's bidding, gutting climate research, defunding NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration], and weakening the very systems meant to warn and protect the public," Communications Director of Fossil Free Media Cassidy DiPaola said. "That's made disasters like this weekend's flood in Texas even more deadly. Now he's doubling down, pushing through even more cuts in the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill. Texans are dead and grieving, and Cruz is protecting big oil instead of the people he's supposed to represent. It's disgraceful."
