Update on Ocean Observatories Initiative

bnm04 4 hours ago |

On Wednesday, June 17th the Senate passed the Saving the OOI Act with unanimous consent. This bill prohibits dismantling the OOI. The bill had not yet passed the House.

63 3 hours ago | |

For those unfamiliar, this implies they would have been able to override a presidential veto, so the administration backtracking is just saving the president the embarassment of a defiant congress/disunified party.

daveguy 3 hours ago | | |

If the administration cares about embarrassment, I've got some bad news.

tedd4u 3 hours ago | | |

Trump cares about winning, and appearing invincible, a lot. That’s why in close races, he only endorses near the end when he’s sure who’s going to win.

Terr_ 3 hours ago | | |

Right, the operative word is less "embarrassment" than "impotence".

colechristensen 3 hours ago | | |

The administration cares about itself feeling embarrassment.

What it feels embarrassment about doesn't necessarily have much to do with what a normal healthy adult would feel embarrassment about.

Think of him like an emotionally damaged child.

softwaredoug 2 hours ago |

The context behind this is head of OMB Russell Vought thinks impoundments - not paying out congressionally authorized funds - is constitutional. So this seems like a legitimate retreat on one of many impoundment issues. It required real pressure from Congress as they try to harden appropriations against an OMB willing to use almost every tactic to not disburse funds.

But impoundment issues persist in NASA and other science agencies in particular.

Still, it’s a hopeful sign that the constitutional system is not broken completely

cadamsdotcom 3 hours ago |

Widespread worldwide outrage can bring about change.

This seems to be good news without a catch. Am I missing something?

fnordpiglet 3 hours ago | |

The catch is they’re still the administration.

softwaredoug 2 hours ago | |

The only small catch is that NSF did not acknowledge it was illegally withholding funds Congress authorized for the array. And so who knows what might change in the future.

Still Congress seemed willing to pressure the administration on the issue and was about to pass a law directly earmarking the project.

adonovan 2 hours ago | |

I agree. This is a most unexpected ray of hope.

Johnny_Bonk 3 hours ago | |

Hahaha I felt the same way, im like now way this is just a clean nice win, im starting to feel .... hopeful??

enraged_camel 3 hours ago | |

That wasn't what brought this change: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48593357

0ckpuppet 1 hour ago | |

oh to be young again

arjie 3 hours ago |

This is fantastic. Glad to see we’ll be keeping the sensors.

dang 2 hours ago |

Related (I think). Have there been others?

U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48560847 - June 2026 (271 comments)

ggm 3 hours ago |

Would it not make sense for the non US funding to rise matched by an independent commission to manage the data harvesting costs and maintenance?

jauntywundrkind 2 hours ago |

I ran into this lovely cross-survey paper three months ago, and was so thankful: an amazing incredible view of reality, a depth of understanding. It was such a horror to think of ripping up such amazing science!

Past, present and future of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation Josep L. Pelegrí

https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.05592.109

Avicebron 4 hours ago |

positive news?

GolfPopper 2 hours ago | |

In the sense that the arsonist who has set the building on fire has been stopped from also lighting a wooden bucket on fire right now, sure, positive news.