Klein noted the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Trump included closures of key weather research labs
CNN’s Betsy Klein raised concerns Saturday over potential links between Texas flooding deaths and budget cuts by the Trump administration. Klein repeatedly referenced the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which cut staffing at the National Weather Service (NWS) and NOAA, suggesting these reductions may have affected weather alerts.
By evening, Klein noted the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed by President Trump included closures of key weather research labs. “It’s really too soon to know… whether this had any sort of impact on this notification effort,” she said. FEMA’s future was also questioned, with Klein reporting Trump plans to phase it out.
Pressed on the issue, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the administration’s efforts, saying: “We will do all we can to fix those kinds of things that may have felt like a failure to you.”
Despite Klein’s repeated speculation, she acknowledged the flash flood event was “truly unprecedented” and difficult to predict with current systems.