US lawmakers fight Trump administration cuts to $386m ocean monitoring program: ‘supreme stupidity’

US Senator Lisa Murkowski and House Democrats have urged the National Science Foundation to reverse its plan to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a $386 million ocean monitoring network. House lawmakers accused the agency of acting illegally in its decision to end the program, which has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change, and extreme weather for over a decade.