House Democrats Highlight How Republican Interior Bill Endangers Americans’ Health While Helping Polluters Profit

WASHINGTON — During today’s House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the 2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill, House Democrats highlighted how the bill takes an aggressive anti-environment pro-pollution stance with crippling cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and policy provisions that will endanger public health, strain the economy, and increase costs. The bill also slashes funding for National Parks and arts programs.

House Republicans’ Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill includes $38.5 billion, which is $72 million below the fiscal year 2024 enacted level and $4.4 billion below the budget request. The bill also provides $2.75 billion for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund.

The legislation:

• Hinders the U.S. response to the climate crisis and fails to address the growing number and severity of extreme weather events by cutting efforts to reduce carbon emissions and community resiliency programs.
• Slashes funding for national parks and cultural institutions, threatening Americans’ ability to enjoy public lands and museums.
• Exacerbates environmental discrimination against rural and poor communities by defunding environmental justice initiatives.
• Promotes dirty energy by requiring fossil fuels lease sales while prohibiting growth in clean energy projects.
• Hastens ecosystem decline by allowing harmful and dirty mining activities and by removing Endangered Species Act protections for numerous species.
• Incites hate and discrimination by prohibiting funds for advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and censoring commemoration of LGTBQI+ pride.

“Climate change is a clear and present danger, and experts agree that we must take bold action to avoid major, irreversible catastrophe. Just last week, one-fifth of all Americans were under extreme heat advisories, with record-breaking temperatures felt across my home state of Maine. It seems like every year when we meet to mark up this bill there’s a new record broken for extreme heat. So, I am greatly disappointed and frustrated by the bill before us that completely disregards the reality of a warming planet and ignores the need for us to do more, not less,” Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01) said. “With that understanding, cutting funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by $1.8 billion, or 20 percent, is irresponsible and severely impacts needed investments in environmental justice, enforcement, and climate change. If we are going to preserve the health of our environment and our economic well-being, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase our efforts to respond to and mitigate against harmful climate impacts.”

Congresswoman Pingree’s full remarks are here.

“The departments and agencies funded in the Interior and Environment bill ensure our air is safe to breathe, and that our water is safe to drink; that our National Parks and other public lands are maintained and accessible to the American people; and that our nation’s unique and iconic flora, fauna, landscapes and ecosystems are preserved for the sake of our health, safety, and enjoyment, for generations to come. But, rather than making sound investments to protect the air and water we consume, preserve our National Parks, and ensure the environment we all share and live in remains clean and protected, the majority’s bill takes the side of polluters and climate science deniers, jeopardizing public health and safety, hindering our responses to the climate crisis, and endangering rural and low-income communities,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “By cutting efforts to reduce carbon emissions, slashing community resiliency programs, and requiring fossil fuels lease sales on public lands while prohibiting clean energy projects, the bill unwinds our response to climate change and promotes dirty energy, taking the side of fossil fuel companies and those who deny the scientific reality rather than address the escalating risk to our economy and national security presented by the changing climate and growing number of extreme weather events.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s full remarks are here.

A summary of House Republicans’ 2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill is here. A fact sheet is here. The text of the bill is here. Information on Community Project Funding in the bill is here.

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