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S. 4822119th CongressScience, Technology, Communications
Saving the OOI Act of 2026
Sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · 11 active : 1 Republican, 10 Democrats
Latest action: Held at the desk.
Where it standsBefore the Senate8 senators score as swing votes
Passed Senate
- Senate: passedJun 17, 2026
- House: next
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govSaving the OOI Act of 2026
This bill prohibits the National Science Foundation (NSF) from using federal funds to decommission or descope Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) instruments until a thorough review of OOI is completed.
OOI measures and observes ocean conditions using a series of in-water instruments that gather physical, chemical, geological, and biological data. On May 21, 2026, NSF announced that it would remove all in-water infrastructure from four of the five active OOI arrays.
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Under the bill, NSF must conduct a thorough review of OOI with engagement from the scientific and coastal communities before decommissioning or descoping specified OOI instruments. This includes OOI instruments anchored off of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and North Carolina, as well as instruments anchored in the Irminger Sea. NSF is required to maintain full and consistent OOI operations, including monitoring in states where instruments have already been decommissioned, until the review is complete.
How the projections held up
Each member’s recorded vote compared with their swing projection from before the vote. A member by voting against most of their own party.
Senate
Passed by voice vote or unanimous consent: no individual votes recorded.
Committees and subjects
Committees
No committee referrals recorded
Congress.gov lists no committee activity for this bill yet, so no member gets the gatekeeper bonus in swing-v3.
Subjects
- Arctic Ocean
- Atlantic Ocean
- Earth sciences
- Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
- National Science Foundation
- Pacific Ocean
- Research administration and funding
How the Senate breaks down
- 8Swing 70–100
- 57Middle 30–70
- 35Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v2, directional: only movement toward the other party counts, so members who sit further from the center than their party no longer score as swing votes.
Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
11 activeShow all 11 cosponsors
- Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
- Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
- Edward J. Markey (D-MA)
- Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
- Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
- Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Ron Wyden (D-OR)
- Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
- Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
