Republican Giveaway to Corporate Polluters Raises Utility Bills and Energy Prices while Failing to Block Construction of Trump Arch

Ranking Member Pingree offered an amendment to block the construction of the Trump Arch, every Republican voted against it

WASHINGTON — Today, House Republicans advanced the fiscal year 2027 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill out of the full committee. Instead of lowering the cost of living and confronting the climate crisis, House Republicans are raising utility bills and energy prices. The legislation takes an aggressive anti-environment, pro-corporate polluter stance with cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and policy provisions that endanger public health and fail to confront the climate crisis. The bill also guts resources for the arts and museums while failing to prevent the administration from misusing funds to build President Trump’s Garden of Heroes and Triumphal Arch.

The fiscal year 2027 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill includes $39 billion, which is $675 million below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level and $7.4 billion above the budget request.

The legislation:

• Raises utility bills by shifting costs onto state and local governments and making electricity more expensive through funding cuts and policies that would cripple renewable energy development.
• Worsens the climate crisis by cutting critical Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work.
• Slashes funding for national parks, cutting facility operations and maintenance by $163 million, threatening Americans’ ability to enjoy public lands.
• Guts resources for museums, arts, and culture, suppressing Americans’ engagement with the arts and art education.
• Favors polluters over public health through harmful policies that undermine EPA’s ability to regulate pollution. 
• Exploits public lands and accelerates ecosystem decline by allowing harmful and dirty mining activities and by removing Endangered Species Act protections for numerous species.

“This bill shortchanges the very programs our communities rely on to protect clean air and water, maintain our national parks, support local arts and cultural institutions, and address the climate crisis,” Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01) said. “Instead of meeting those basic responsibilities, Republicans are advancing deep cuts to the EPA, the National Park Service, the NEA and NEH, and renewable energy programs while loading the bill with extreme poison pill riders. At the same time, they are sitting back and allowing the President to raid public resources for vanity projects like his gilded ballroom, Triumphal Arch, and so-called Garden of Heroes. As written, this bill prioritizes Trump’s ego and partisan politics over the environment and well-being of the American people."

Pingree’s opening statement can be viewed here.

“This bill is a gift to corporate polluters, who would poison our communities in pursuit of even greater profits. It saddles cities, towns, and working families with higher utility bills. And it allows President Trump to continue raiding public funds to pay for his own vanity projects,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “It cuts the EPA enforcement budget in half, substantially eroding the ability of the agency to enforce the laws that help protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the ground that grows our food. There are also a number of policy riders in this bill which are designed to further chip away at the EPA’s ability to enforce regulations under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other laws governing hazardous waste. In its current form, this bill allows the Trump administration to continue raiding public funds intended to support the arts and humanities top pay for a 250-foot Arch dedicated to himself. At a time when the American people are struggling to make ends meet, this bill makes the problem worse. It does nothing to bring down costs, while allowing the billionaires and big corporations, who have profited by polluting our communities, to get even richer. Meanwhile, the air we breathe and the water we drink gets less and less safe.”

DeLauro’s opening statement can be viewed here.

During the full committee markup of the bill, Democrats offered many improvements to Republicans’ bill, including amendments to:

• Prevent the construction of an arch twice the height of the Lincoln Memorial that President Trump wants to build and dedicate to himself.
• Prohibit the use of public funding for President Trump’s White House ballroom project.
• Increase funding for State Revolving Funds under the EPA.
• Provide funding for the Environmental Justice initiatives.
• Prohibit drilling for oil off the coast of California and Florida.
• Remove all partisan policy provisions (poison pill riders) from the bill.
• Strike all poison pill riders related to the Endangered Species Act.
• Level the playing field for renewable energy to lower utility costs for consumers.

House Republicans rejected these commonsense amendments.

A summary of the bill is here. A fact sheet is here. 

The text of the bill, before the adoption of amendments in full committee, is here. The bill report, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, is here. Information on Community Project Funding in the bill is here. The full committee markup can be viewed live on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

###