While traditional computer models can predict tornadoes, and hail and wind events two to three days in advance, NCAR’s AI models can anticipate those events up to eight days in advance with higher accuracy.

“These tools are allowing us to look into the future further, to get an indication of where these events will happen,” NCAR scientist Ryan Sobash said.

Until 2019 or 2020, Sobash said, all forecasts were created by relying on big, complex and expensive computer models that take a lot of computing power. Now, AI has accelerated all of that. The AI tools are trained on how to analyze the atmosphere, and once they’re trained, they can create forecasts in minutes instead of hours and have the capacity to run a lot more models. And, Sobash has found, the AI tools provide better predictions.

“Some of these models are actually more accurate than the older computationally intensive techniques,” Sobash said.

NCAR is disseminating these forecasts online and to other labs and forecasters. The experimental forecasts will be evaluated in the coming weeks at NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed in Oklahoma.

The models are trained to look at severe weather across the U.S., including in Colorado. Sobash anticipates these models will allow Boulder and Colorado to get a better picture of hail, wind and thunderstorms before they happen, especially entering late May and June, a particularly active time for that type of weather.

“Those (weather events) are affecting people in increased ways for a variety of reasons, and so we’re trying to develop these tools to give people additional lead time by improving the accuracy of the forecast,” Sobash said.

In the future, Sobash said, he hopes to adapt these AI tools to predict other types of weather events, including flash flooding and winter precipitation, which have big impacts in Colorado. He and his team are also striving to continue to see improvements in accuracy and lead time as their work continues, hoping to achieve accurate forecasts more than a week in advance.

There are funding limitations given the political climate, Sobash said, but the team has a solid path forward to make progress in this area. President Donald Trump made threats to dismantle NCAR in December, and by the National Science Foundation is aiming to restructure it and remove some of its capabilities.

Anyone can view the AI-powered forecasts by visiting .

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The plaintiff is the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a nonprofit consortium of 129 North American universities that manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation. The UCAR sued several federal agencies and their leaders in Colorado’s federal court.

The administration’s plans to neuter NCAR are part of a “campaign of retaliation” against Colorado’s state government and its leaders for maintaining mail-in voting and refusing to grant clemency to Tina Peters, a former county clerk and Trump ally convicted of felonies in an election misconduct case, the lawsuit alleges. NCAR is slated to become collateral damage of the larger power struggle, the lawsuit alleges.

Since December, the administration has sought to transfer the management of NCAR’s supercomputer, canceled millions of dollars intended for climate research, imposed gag orders on employees, proposed the sale of the center’s iconic headquarters and solicited public comment on how to restructure the organization.

“These actions pose a direct threat to national security, public safety, and economic prosperity and risk setting back the country’s global leadership in weather and space weather modeling and forecasting,” leaders from the university group . “We are hopeful that this lawsuit will prevent future unlawful action by the agencies.”

The Trump administration first announced its intention to “break up” NCAR in December, with a top budget official calling it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”

While the institute investigates climate change, its mission is much broader and encompasses every aspect of how the earth’s atmosphere and weather systems interact. That includes research on earthquakes, flooding, drought, geomagnetic storms in space, wildfires, wind, storms and more.

The center, founded in 1960, provides the data and models that other institutions and universities rely on for forecasting and research. Industries like aviation, agriculture and shipping also rely on its information to make decisions.

About 820 employees work for NCAR, approximately half of whom live in the Boulder area and work at the center’s iconic building perched on a hill on the edge of town.

A spokesman for the National Science Foundation said the organization does not comment on pending litigation, but a White House spokesman defended the administration’s changes to NCAR.

“President Trump is using his lawful and discretionary authority to ensure federal dollars are being spent in a way that aligns with the agenda endorsed by the American people when they resoundingly reelected the president,” spokesman Kush Desai said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “Allegations of funding being allocated due to retaliation are imagined and entirely false.”

The federal leaders seeking to dismantle NCAR have not detailed any concerns with the quality of the work completed there or regulatory compliance, the lawsuit states.

“The Agencies’ adverse actions designed to weaken UCAR and undermine or dismantle NCAR’s operations are all part and parcel of the campaign to punish Colorado,” the lawsuit states.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that Colorado leaders end the state’s primarily mail-ballot voting system and release Peters. Trump on Dec. 11 issued a federal pardon to Peters — which had no legal bearing on her conviction in state court.

When Peters remained incarcerated in a state prison in the days that followed, the administration rescinded $109 million in federal transportation funding allocated to Colorado and implemented new rules for its food-assistance program. Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill passed by Congress that would have helped finance a Republican-supported water project, and his administration denied the state’s applications for wildfire and flooding relief money while announcing plans to take apart NCAR.

Since then, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has publicly voiced concern that Peters’ nine-year sentence was too “harsh” and floated the idea of reducing it. Most recently, though, his office has indicated that he will wait until after the Colorado Court of Appeals finishes reviewing Peters’ convictions.

The dismantling of NCAR has already begun, Monday’s lawsuit says.

The administration has sought to of the Cheyenne-based , which is relied upon by thousands of researchers across the globe for weather forecasts and data. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, without warning, canceled a multimillion-dollar agreement with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research for climate science.

In February, the National Science Foundation began requesting detailed records regarding NCAR’s budgeting, staff expenses, and grants that the lawsuit characterized as needlessly burdensome. The foundation, which oversees NCAR, also banned its employees from making any public comments on the changes.

“Far from advancing any legitimate purpose, the Agencies’ retaliatory actions are undermining the Trump Administration’s objectives of maintaining superiority in weather forecasting, technological advancement, and supercomputing,” the lawsuit states.

The plans to dismantle NCAR prompted a recent rebuke from some members of Colorado’s congressional delegation. Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd joined three Democrats — Rep. Joe Neguse and U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper — in a letter submitted last week to the National Science Foundation to oppose the administration’s plans.

“In sum, we oppose the restructuring and weakening of NCAR, which would erode critical research capacity, disrupt long-standing partnerships, and diminish our ability to understand, anticipate, and respond to extreme weather-related risks,” their letter read.

The NSF issued a call for public comments regarding NCAR after the Trump administration made NCAR in December, and the NSF announced its intent to restructure its critical weather science infrastructure. In January, the NSF announced it would consider proposals for new private or public ownership to take over the NCAR’s Mesa Lab in Boulder, and it put out regarding NCAR’s management and operations. The deadline to submit public feedback was on Friday.

Former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs submitted a letter to the NSF highlighting NCAR’s research and the importance of its staying intact. He represented CD 2, the district which includes NCAR, for 12 years, and he served on the board of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR under agreement with NSF.

“To get right to the point, the proposal is economically, scientifically, administratively, and morally stupid,” Skaggs wrote in a letter to the NSF. “To respond to the suggested questions on which you invite comment would be to concede there might be any merit in the proposed assault on NCAR.”

The Office of Management and Budget “normally touts the need for rigorous cost-benefit analysis of policy proposals,” Skaggs wrote. He called on the NSF to “please share whatever analysis has been performed,” questioning how climate science would advance with the proposed changes to NCAR.

“You have a profound responsibility to the public and to the future to get this right; i.e., STOP,” Skaggs wrote.

Dan Powers, the executive director of CO-LABS, highlighting the importance of NCAR across industries, including aerospace and aviation; agriculture and water management; insurance, reinsurance and financial risk; private weather and environmental intelligence; and space weather and aerospace technology. CO-LABS is a nonprofit group in Boulder that champions the value of taxpayer-funded science and research and brings scientists and labs together.

“NCAR is not simply a public research institution — it is foundational infrastructure for a wide range of weather, public utility, transportation, airline, agriculture, public safety, and communications technology partners that depend on NCAR’s research, data, and expertise,” Powers wrote.

NCAR employs about 830 people in highly specialized scientific, technical and operational roles, Powers wrote. Those are high-wage, high-skill positions that anchor the regional economy and support contractors, suppliers, and science-adjacent businesses across Colorado and the country, he said.

“CO-LABS encourages NSF to hold any restructuring proposals to the standard of preserving the integrated, accessible, and stable capabilities that the private sector and public alike rely upon,” Powers wrote.

The Boulder Chamber also submitted a letter, describing how NCAR represents more than one research facility — it’s a foundational component that’s part of a larger public and private ecosystem. It supports major sectors of the U.S. economy and anchors high-skill jobs and American scientific leadership.

“Atmospheric observations, computational infrastructure, model development, and scientific expertise function as a unified system,” the chamber’s letter read. “Fragmenting these capabilities across multiple entities or privatizing core functions risks weakening the very scientific and operational strengths that industries rely upon.”

The city submitted a five-page letter to the NSF signed by City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde and Mayor Aaron Brockett. The city’s letter described how Boulder’s success is the product of decades of public and private investment in scientific institutions, which feed entrepreneurship and new talent. NCAR is at the heart of this model, the letter said.

“At a time when global competition in science and technology has never been fiercer, institutions like NCAR are critical,” the letter read. “The city is extremely concerned that the actions proposed by the NSF are short-sighted and will negatively impact Boulder’s community and our economy.”

According to the city’s letter, any actions that dismantle this institution or remove its land from the public domain would call into question the city’s ability to continue to provide water services to this site, as those services were specifically approved by the voters to support NCAR’s public mission. The city has an ordinance, established in 1959, that states that no water services will be provided above 5,750 feet elevation along the foothills, known as the “Blue Line.” In 1961, voters for NCAR.

“Should that public mission be abandoned, or the property transferred to private interests, the City of Boulder could not presume that voter-sanctioned commitments extend to the new uses of the site and would be compelled to revisit the terms and obligations governing that relationship,” the letter read.

U.S. Representatives Joe Neguse and Jeff Hurd and U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper also led 80 lawmakers in submitting bipartisan public comment in support of NCAR, specifically opposing proposed structural changes to it.

“In sum, we oppose the restructuring and weakening of NCAR, which would erode critical research capacity, disrupt long-standing partnerships, and diminish our ability to understand, anticipate, and respond to extreme weather-related risks,” their letter read.

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The laboratory, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has been targeted for months by the Trump administration. In a social media post in December, Russell Vought, the White House budget director, called the Colorado center “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”

The center, founded in 1960, is responsible for many of the biggest scientific advances in understanding of weather and climate. Its research aircraft and sophisticated computer models of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans are widely used in forecasting weather events and disasters.

Scientists say the move to dismantle the center would weaken research that is crucial to understanding the atmosphere, space and oceans, air pollution and climate change. It would leave emergency officials and planners less prepared for extreme weather events, critics said.

The center’s staff includes about 830 employees working under the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a nonprofit consortium of colleges and universities that oversees the center for the federal government.

The center also operates a massive supercomputer, known as Derecho, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, that scientists use to predict the behavior of wildfires, space weather, hurricanes and other complex weather patterns.

Proposals are due Friday to the National Science Foundation from institutions that want to take over management of the center’s research portfolio and various facilities; comments from the public about the center’s future are also due then.

Michael England, a spokesperson for NSF, which oversees the center, said the proposals and comments from interested parties would not be made public. He would not say when the officials would make a final decision about the fate of the center.

“I don’t have anything on that for you,” England said.

Colorado’s elected officials have been fighting to preserve the center. Putting it on the chopping block would also be an economic blow to the state. President Donald Trump has feuded with Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, over Trump’s pardoning of a former Colorado election official who was convicted of multiple state felonies after she gave Trump’s supporters unauthorized access to voting machines after the 2020 presidential election.

“Breaking up the institution would have detrimental impacts,” Polis said in a statement Thursday. “People evacuate more quickly and safely from fires because of NCAR.”

The center’s data, Polis said, “improve forecasting of severe weather events like fires and floods, support safer aviation and transportation, and help businesses and communities make informed decisions.”

In a letter to the NSF’s acting director, Brian Stone, Reps. Joe Neguse, a Democrat, and Jeff Hurd, a Republican, wrote that dismantling the center would increase costs and “erode critical research capacity, disrupt long-standing partnerships, and diminish our ability to understand, anticipate and respond to extreme weather-related risks.”

Neguse said the proposals and comments should be made public, and he intended to press the NSF should it refrain from doing so.

He has asked the NSF inspector general to review allegations from a whistleblower that Trump administration officials began negotiating the transfer of the center’s space weather program to a private company in January, before the review had been completed.

According to Neguse’s letter to the inspector general, the whistleblower confirmed the report with an employee of an unnamed for-profit company during a January meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Houston.

“I remain deeply concerned about any attempts to improperly transfer public assets to private companies,” Neguse wrote.

Scott Rayder, the CEO of Lynker, a firm in Leesburg, Virginia, that provides space weather forecasts for the U.S. military and other federal agencies, said he was submitting a proposal to the NSF to take over management of the center’s High Altitude Observatory, whose scientists study solar flares, space radiation and other atmospheric phenomena.

“Our thinking here was that this is important and we need to save it,” Rayder said about the observatory. “These are critical functions. If you are going to break them up, don’t let them go. They need to be kept together.”

Rayder said in an interview that his firm had not been negotiating with officials from the Trump administration. Scott McIntosh, Lynker’s vice president for space operations, was the deputy director at the center until 2024 and also ran the observatory.

The University of Oklahoma is making a proposal to the NSF “on how the nation can best preserve that legacy and organize our atmospheric science capabilities to meet current and future needs,” said Matthew Wade Hulver, the university’s vice president for research and partnerships.

The University of Wyoming has begun negotiations with NSF officials about taking over management of the Derecho supercomputer, according to Chad Baldwin, a university spokesperson.

Baldwin said it was too early to know who would set the research priorities for the supercomputer. But some scientists say the university’s goals may not match the priorities of the larger U.S. scientific research community.

“How much will be focused on climate versus weather versus other disciplines?” said Carlos Javier Martinez, chief climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group, and a former postdoctoral researcher at the center.

“It feels rushed,” Martinez said about the NSF process. “I question whether the public comment period is of good faith.”

Also unclear is the fate of the center’s Mesa Laboratory, which was founded in 1960, designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, and used as the setting for the 1973 Woody Allen sci-fi comedy film “Sleeper.”

In a January letter, the NSF said it wanted proposals to sell the buildings and transfer the center’s two high-flying research aircraft to another federal agency.

This article originally appeared in .

The NSF is accepting public feedback on the future of NCAR’s research infrastructure, capabilities and operations, with responses due by Friday. U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat, has public feedback describing the importance of NCAR.

“As the National Science Foundation considers the future of NCAR, it is important that organizations and businesses that rely on this work share how NCAR’s work benefits their industries and communities, and how breaking up the institution would have detrimental impacts,” said Governor Polis.

For more information on how to submit feedback, visit .

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A whistleblower reported to Neguse’s office that one or more Office of Management and Budget officials proposed or negotiated an arrangement to sell parts of NCAR’s space weather program to a private company, according to Neguse. The whistleblower reported the allegations to Neguse’s office, he said, and the information was reportedly confirmed by an employee at the company in question. Neguse did not name the company.

Neguse sent a letter to the Inspector General of the National Science Foundation on Monday, demanding an independent investigation into allegations of potential conflicts of interest and regulatory improprieties.

“As our office understands it, neither the OMB nor the NSF have clear legal or statutory authority to unilaterally dissolve or sell Federal programs,” Neguse wrote in the letter.

Officials from the Office of Management and Budget and the National Science Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the letter, Neguse references federal laws that make it “clear that this research must be conducted by federal research agencies.” Neguse argues that it is not within the Office of Management and Budget����ap authority to “sell-off space weather programs to private companies.”

The whistleblower’s report comes after the NSF in a Dear Colleague Letter that it will consider proposals for new private or public ownership to take over the NCAR’s Mesa Lab in Boulder. The NSF also requested that interested parties submit a document of interest or ideas for operations, with a March 13 deadline.

“The report of misconduct described above further includes allegations that (Dear Colleague Letter) is simply a political ploy to feign proper conduct, and that the OMB has already determined that NCAR’s space weather program will be transferred to the aforementioned for-profit company and that NCAR’s NWSC supercomputing facility will be transferred to the University of Wyoming.”

The NSF that the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center will be transferring operations away from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and to an unnamed third-party operator.

“The federal (Dear Colleague Letter) process is not a mechanism for reaching pre-determined outcomes nor for selling or awarding federal programs to private companies, and it cannot be used to bypass the law and hand federal programs to preferred private companies without undergoing competitive merit-review processes,” Neguse wrote. “In this instance, if allegations of a predetermined transfer or selloff were proven to be true, it would clearly violate the spirit and letter of the “Dear Colleague” process and likely violate Federal law. Therefore, it is vitally important that your office investigate the same.”

Neguse also included NSF Acting Director Brian Stone, OMB Director Russel Vought and Former OMB Associate Director Stuart Levenbach on the letter.

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That’s how easy it is for a prosecutor to sway a grand jury.

Yet this week, one such jury rejected a case brought by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro against U.S. Reps. Jason Crow (CO), Maggie Goodlander (NH), Chrissy Houlahan (PA), Chris Deluzio (PA), and US Sens. Mark Kelly (AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (MI).

These former members of the military and intelligence services posted a video on social media in November encouraging soldiers and intelligence professionals to refuse illegal orders, as is their right, if not obligation. Pirro’s case against them was so lame it couldn’t satisfy the low standard met by lunchmeat, mere probable cause to move forward with a trial.

Bullies often intimidate by projecting power they don’t possess to get others to back down, go silent, acquiesce, kneel; but, a paper tiger can’t win if someone chooses to fight back. That����ap what Crow and his fellow Members of Congress demonstrated this week. And, it����ap what Colorado must continue to do for the next three years.

President Donald Trump began his second term already displeased with Colorado because we voted for his opponent, we allow mail-in voting, and we limit cooperation with federal authorities on immigration.

Since he took office, Colorado has added to these transgressions. Our state insists on holding former county clerk Tina Peters accountable for breaking the law and serving her sentence. Representative Lauren Boebert was one of four Republicans that signed a petition to force a vote to release the millions of documents and evidence held by the federal government in the case agaisnt convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Oh, and then Rep. Crow insisted on exercising his right to free speech.

For these sins, President Trump has targeted the state for retribution.

In September, 2025, he announced he was moving Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama.

In October, the Department of Energy canceled more than $550 million for carbon emission reduction projects in Colorado.

In November, Trump vilified Crow’s video on social media: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” and the administration launched a sham investigation.

December was a busy month for retaliation. The president announced he would dismantle the Boulder-based National Center for Atmospheric Research, vetoed a unanimously-passed bill to finish a water conduit to southeastern Colorado residents, rejected emergency funds for fire and flood disasters in western Colorado, canceled $109 million in transportation grants for Colorado, and issued a fake pardon to Tina Peters.

In January, the administration notified the state that it would withhold funds for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Social Services Block Grant program and the Child Care and Development Fund pending “review.”

In February, the administration announced it would take back $25 million in health funds from Colorado.

Various administration spokesmen and women have argued that the president rescinded grants and vetoed the Arkansas Valley conduit bill to curb “wasteful” spending and advance fiscal stewardship. These comments would be less laughable if the administration and its sycophantic Congress hadn’t contributed so bigly to the national debt, $2.25 trillion in 2025 alone. Fortunately, the state has fought back by appealing the decisions or suing and has already won some reprieve.

States often win when the federal government attempts to force compliance through intimidation. President Biden tried to withhold school lunch funding from schools that use biological sex as a determining factor in sports and bathrooms, Title X funding from a state that limited abortion referrals, and transit funds another state that doesn’t allow unions to take dues directly out of paychecks.

Colorado may not be able to stop the loss of Space Command but it will likely win all of the funding battles. In the meanwhile, the state must not comply with Trump’s demands regarding Tina Peters or our election laws.

Colorado isn’t just standing up for itself but for the constitutional provisions that ensure the division of power between the federal government and states known as federalism.

In the words of that inspiring November video: “Don’t give up the ship!”

Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

Management and operations of the supercomputing center will transition to an unnamed third-party operator, according to NSF. The agency said it will share more information as it becomes available. Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research declined to comment, and NSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The , currently operated by NCAR in Cheyenne, Wyoming, supports and advances Earth system sciences by providing world-class computing environments, data services and research in computational science, according to its website. Each year, it provides its resources to more than 1,500 users at more than 500 universities and research institutions.

Thursday’s announcement comes after NSF announced in the last few months to restructure NCAR’s infrastructure.

Friday’s announcement comes after the Trump administration dismantle NCAR in December, and on Dec. 17, the NSF announced critical weather science infrastructure at NCAR.

The NSF requesting “expressions of interest in and/or concepts of operation” for the Mesa Lab, specifically seeking those interested in “ownership of the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab building” for private or public use. The Boulder lab is currently managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research on behalf of the NSF.

“We’re in touch with NSF to better understand how this process will unfold, and we’re continuing to do our work,” Boulder NCAR media relations manager David Hosansky wrote in an email to the Daily Camera.

The Daily Camera requested a further explanation of the letter from the NSF, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday evening.

The NSF also put out a call for those interested in “management and operations” of NCAR space weather activities and NCAR weather modeling and atmospheric observing capabilities. In addition to operation proposals, the NSF posed four questions to which it’s seeking responses. The foundation is seeking to know:

• Whether NCAR activities duplicate those of other organizations.

• If there are any new ideas for NCAR’s management and operations the NSF should consider.

• If there are other “concepts for management and operations of NCAR activities” that differ from the current model that the NSF should consider.

• What the performance objectives and metrics should be for a restructured atmospheric research center.

The NSF is requesting that interested parties submit a document, limited to two or three pages per topic, describing ideas for operations and/or addressing the questions posed in the letter. The deadline for submissions is March 13.

“The materials received will be used to inform NSF’s future actions with respect to the components of NCAR and to ensure the products, services, and tools provided in the future align with the needs and expectations of stakeholders to the extent practicable,” the letter read.

Plans to transfer stewardship of the , located in Cheyenne, and plans to divest from or transfer two research aircraft that NCAR manages are being considered separately from this letter.

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The “minibus” measure, which approves spending for the Commerce, Justice, Energy and Interior departments through the current fiscal year, on a broadly bipartisan vote of 82-15. It now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

Before the Christmas break, U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet objected to an agreement on preliminary votes, delaying consideration. They cited the Trump administration’s announcement of its intention to shut down the world-renowned National Center for Atmospheric Research and move some “vital activities” elsewhere. Administration officials called NCAR a source of “climate alarmism.”

On Thursday, the funding package cleared a procedural vote 85-14, and then Bennet and Hickenlooper spoke on the floor as they pressed to add a safeguard for NCAR’s funding. The amendment wasn’t adopted, and they ultimately voted against the package.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, spoke against the NCAR amendment, arguing that incorporating it would add procedural complications. She also noted the package included money for the National Science Foundation, which provides much of NCAR’s support, but didn’t include carveouts for any particular NSF funding recipients.

Hickenlooper later noted how unusual the administration’s NCAR threat was in his floor remarks, calling for Congress to protect it.

“In the face of unrelenting political attacks from President Trump, we are standing together to protect institutions like NCAR that are vital to our state and our economy,” Hickenlooper said in a statement issued after the vote. “Our government funding hold was one step in that effort. We will keep standing strong for Colorado and working families until NCAR and Coloradans are secure.”

In a separate statement, Bennet expressed disappointment and said he will “pursue all options available to ensure that NCAR is protected.”

The package passed Thursday was among several under consideration as Congress faces a Jan. 30 deadline to avert another government shutdown. It’s now halfway home in approving government funding for the current budget year that began Oct. 1.

Lawmakers still must negotiate a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security amid soaring tensions on Capitol Hill after the shooting of Minnesota resident Renee Good, a former Coloradan, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Denver Post public affairs editor Jon Murray, staff writer Nick Coltrain and the Associated Press contributed to this story.