The drive come after a slate of terminations mandated by the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year.

A bill introduced Friday would classify forecasters and other staff as critical public safety roles. It comes after the Weather Service lost nearly 600 people to DOGE cuts.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it will hire for “mission-critical field positions” amid expert warnings that the weather service is too short-staffed to warn people of the dangers of the upcoming extreme weather season.