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.

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

Widespread worldwide outrage can bring about change.

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

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)

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

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

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?

positive news?