Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Full Committee Markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior and Environment Funding Bill

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Committee's markup of the fiscal year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill:

I thank the Chair, I thank Chairman Simpson, Ranking Member Pingree, as well. I want to thank staff on both sides of the aisle for their work, in particular, Rita Culp, Jocelyn Hunn, and Michael Schmeltz.

I oppose the bill before us today, which would raise utility bills and energy prices, would worsen the climate crisis, put polluters over public health, and abandon stewardship of our National Parks, all to benefit billionaires and big corporations.

We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. President Trump promised to lower costs on day one, but instead, he and House Republicans are making the cost-of-living crisis even worse. 

The Big Ugly Law is handing massive tax breaks to billionaires and to the biggest corporations while driving up energy costs for homes and businesses. 

Today, we are considering another House Republican bill which will raise costs for the struggling working class and middle class, that will damage our public lands, promote dirty energy, and threaten Americans’ health by exposing them to more polluted air and water.

Never mind that we never received a complete budget from the White House, we are holding this markup in a completely unprecedented time, with Congress’s authority being challenged by a lawless Administration. 

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has stolen resources, appropriated by this committee, passed by Democrats and Republicans in the House and in the Senate, for programs and services across the federal government, including several in this bill that help to lower costs for the middle class and working class, protect vulnerable populations, and keep our environment clean. 

The Administration has unlawfully frozen, attacked, and destroyed grants that help Tribes with hazard mitigation, grants that support the recovery of endangered species, grants that decrease flooding risks, and grants that help restore areas damaged by floods and wildfires. 

Scores of public servants were laid off, and the Environmental Protection Agency just announced it will be eliminating its entire Office of Research and Development, impounding $749 million of funds appropriated by Congress.

These cuts are not numbers on a page – and they are not only felt in Washington, DC. They affect all of our communities.

Mary, a Connecticut grandmother, was devastated when her granddaughter, a trained EMT, skilled ice climber, and a member of the Alpine Rescue Team, was fired from her job at Mount Rainier National Park. Mary’s granddaughter had worked for the National Park Service for over five years, but because she had been transferred to Mount Rainier less than a year ago, she was technically a probationary employee. DOGE and Elon Musk decided that Mary’s granddaughter’s public service was less valuable than another tax break for billionaires. Lost and injured climbers in Mount Rainier National Park will pay the price.

I ask my colleagues, do your constituents consider our National Parks waste, fraud, and abuse? Did they come to your town halls and complain there were too many employees at National Parks? I doubt it. 

All of the departments, agencies, and programs whose funding has been stolen, Congress enacted and appropriated funding for in law. They are substituting Congress’s decisions and judgment with their own, turning Article I of the Constitution on its head.

And unfortunately, this bill doubles-down on President Trump’s pro-pollution, anti-environment, anti-Parks and Arts agenda.

Because of this bill, families will pay more at the pump and on their utility bills thanks to deep cuts to funding for infrastructure and the removal of important vehicle emissions regulations.

This bill abandons our children and grandchildren who will have to confront an ever-worsening climate crisis by eviscerating the EPA, reducing science funding, promoting fossil fuel lease sales on public lands, and deconstructing critical emissions regulations.

This bill will worsen Americans’ health by ending enforcement of numerous Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act regulations as well as hazardous waste and pesticide laws, and by allowing corporations to spew toxic pollution into our communities.

And this bill slashes funding for National Parks and exploits our public lands for the sake of corporate profits. Underfunding the National Park Service – especially after DOGE eviscerated Park Service staffing – means fewer seasonal employees, making it more difficult and cumbersome for our constituents to visit and enjoy our nation’s beautiful parks, and the 332 million annual visitors to the parks are vital to the economies of so many states. 

Funding for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities is severely cut, diminishing and suppressing education of America’s culture, history, and values. I headed up the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. I open New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas every year. Celebrating America’s achievements and contributions to the arts is critical to our national identity and unity, and these programs ensure all Americans can enjoy our shared culture. The arts and humanities are the soul of this nation.

Americans cannot keep up with the ever-increasing cost of living, but instead of working with Democrats to make investments that can help lower their costs, protect our environment, and preserve our public lands and institutions, Republicans have put forward a bill that favors billionaires’ and corporations’ right to pollute and destroy the environment over the health and safety of the American people. 

I cannot support this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote no. 

I yield back.

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