Republicans Endanger Americans’ Health While Profiting Polluters in 2025 Interior, Environment Funding Bill

Bill Guts the Environmental Protection Agency, Slashes Resources for National Parks, and Cuts Funding for the Arts

WASHINGTON — Today, House Republicans released the draft fiscal year 2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation 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.

The fiscal year 2025 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.

“I am greatly disappointed and frustrated by the bill Republicans put before our committee today. Just a few days ago, one-fifth of all Americans were under extreme heat advisories, with record-breaking temperatures being felt in my home state of Maine and across the country. Yet this bill completely disregards the reality of a warming planet and ignores the urgent need for us to do more, not less. Republicans’ irresponsible bill cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by a whopping 20 percent—severely impacting EPA’s efforts to preserve the health of our environment and respond to and mitigate harmful climate impacts. This bill also makes drastic cuts to land management agencies such as the National Park Service and cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art,” Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01) said. “Unfortunately, once again, House Republicans have loaded up the bill with widely unpopular policy riders that cripple environmental protection, undermine climate change policies, and incite hate and discrimination. A majority of Americans support the United States taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050 and they support taking responsibility for future generations. The austere and irresponsible cuts in this bill do not align with their values. We need to rise to this challenge and not squander the opportunity to make the planet better for our children and grandchildren.”

“House Republicans are more focused on lining the pockets of billionaires and big oil companies than protecting our planet for future generations. Their 2025 Interior funding bill takes an aggressive anti-environment stance that endangers public health and hurts our economy,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “Republicans are threatening the air we breathe and the water we drink. These are basic life necessities that we have a simple obligation to protect for the American people. On top of these dangerous cuts, Republicans are slashing funding for the National Parks and the arts, some of the most popular federal investments across the United States. This bill damages our public lands, promotes dirty energy, jeopardizes biodiversity, and hinders our response to the climate crisis. If House Republicans were focused on saving money, they would be protecting our environment and confronting the climate crisis. This bill takes us in the opposite direction.”

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. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

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