WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44) June 4 led a letter to National Weather Service or NWS director Ken Graham urging immediate action to protect and strengthen access to multilingual weather alerts and forecasts. The letter was co-led by the current and most recent chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus or CHC, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus or CAPAC, and Congressional Black Caucus or CBC — key caucuses whose members represent communities most impacted by language-access failures.
Rep. Barragán’s letter follows a recent disruption in the NWS’s multilingual alert services, which occurred when NWS allowed its contract with a third-party translation firm to lapse. Although the service has since been restored, the letter highlights that the gap placed millions of Americans with limited English proficiency at risk and exposed dangerous vulnerabilities in the country’s emergency communication system.
“Ensuring that all Americans, regardless of the language they speak, have access to life-saving weather information is not optional — it is a core responsibility of the National Weather Service,” said Rep. Barragán. “In a nation as diverse as ours, language access must be treated as an essential component of emergency preparedness and public communication — not an expendable service.”
In the letter, CHC, CAPAC, and CBC members posed specific questions to the NWS about how it plans to prevent future lapses, evaluate translation service providers, and ensure inclusive outreach to limited-English-proficient communities. The lawmakers also pressed for transparency on the criteria used to select which languages are included in multilingual alerts and how the agency plans to update those lists to reflect shifting demographics.
Nearly 68 million people in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home — roughly one in five Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The letter underscores that access to accurate weather information in one’s language is essential, not just during emergencies, but also for everyday decisions that affect safety, health, and economic security.
Rep. Barragán has long championed language accessibility and continues to lead efforts in Congress to ensure that language is never a barrier to safety or survival.
Details: Find the letter to NWS Director Graham here. Find background information here.