Ted Cruz Slammed for Slashing Weather Forecasting Funds as Texas Floods Kill 100+

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is under fierce public scrutiny after a devastating flash flood claimed more than 100 lives in central Texas, just days after he helped push through Republican-led spending cuts that gutted critical weather forecasting systems. Making matters worse, Cruz was spotted vacationing in Greece as the deadly disaster unfolded. The tragedy, which occurred along the Guadalupe River, overwhelmed local emergency services and exposed fatal gaps in the National Weather Service’s (NWS) alert systems. Many of the victims were children and camp counselors caught off guard as rising waters inundated cabins during the night.

Just days before the Texas floods, Ted Cruz inserted language into a Donald Trump-backed spending bill that eliminated $150 million allocated to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for improving weather research and forecasting. Another $50 million in grants earmarked for climate and oceanic research was also axed.

Critics argue the timing and consequences of these funding cuts couldn’t be more damning.  Despite Ted Cruz’s office defending his overseas trip as “pre-planned,” the backlash has been swift and brutal. A photo of the senator touring the Parthenon in Athens went viral as news of the Texas flood spread. By the time he returned to Texas and appeared at the flood site in Kerrville, many saw it as too little, too late.

While speaking to Fox News, Ted Cruz promised a “serious retrospective” to investigate how the tragedy unfolded, admitting that “something went wrong” with the flood warnings, but stopped short of accepting blame.

The National Weather Service, which has seen over 600 employees depart under the Trump administration’s push to shrink federal agencies, struggled to issue timely alerts. Key positions, including liaisons with emergency managers, were reportedly vacant in some Texas field offices.

President Trump’s 2026 budget proposal signals further dismantling of NOAA’s weather and climate research programs, a move experts warn could endanger more lives as climate-induced extreme weather events grow more frequent. “Every weather event now carries some influence from climate change,” said Dr. Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M climate scientist. “We’re not just seeing random disasters. We’re seeing disasters intensified by human choices.”

In 2021, Ted Cruz faced similar outrage for fleeing to Cancun during a historic winter freeze. This time, the stakes and the death toll are even higher.

As Texas mourns its dead in the flood, questions mount about the price of political decisions—and who ends up paying it.