S. 1378, TAME Extreme Weather and Wildfires Act

S. 1378 would authorize the appropriation of $105 million for fiscal year 2026 and $25 million annually from 2027 through 2030 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop comprehensive datasets for training weather forecasting models, in coordination with other federal entities and technical experts.

The bill also would allow NOAA to:

• Use artificial intelligence (AI) to disseminate weather and wildfire risk information,
• Partner with nonfederal entities to study and recommend best practices for AI-based weather forecasting, and
• Recruit expert personnel to support AI weather forecasting.

In addition, S. 1378 would require NOAA to report to the Congress on AI-based weather forecasting and potential security risks related to foreign access to weather data.

The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).

Using historical spending patterns for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1378 would cost $188 million over the 2025-2030 period and $15 million after 2030, assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts.

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Kelly Durand. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.