Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Funding Bill

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

Thank you for so much Mr. Chairman. It is a really important subcommittee, and I am always grateful for the work we do in concert with you, Chairman Cole, and Ranking Member Pingree. I want to share my appreciation for the subcommittee staff’s work, in particular, Rita Culp, Jocelyn Hunn, and Michael Schmeltz.

I oppose the bill before us today, which will raise utility bills and energy prices, 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 Bill 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 leaving them vulnerable to 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 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 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. 

Nearly $1.5 billion in funding for the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Affairs was frozen. Scores of public servants were laid off.

These cuts are not numbers on a page – and they are not only felt in Washington, DC. They affect all 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 Park Service for over five years, but because she had been transferred to Mount Rainier less than a year ago, was technically a probationary employee. DOGE and Elon Musk decided that Mary’s granddaughter’s public service was less valuable than a 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 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. 

The Administration also stole $100 million from the Connecticut Green Bank – which supports public-private partnerships that lower energy costs for residents, and support resiliency, land conservation, and other areas of environmental infrastructure. 

The Green Bank is supported by Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, which courts have repeatedly found was unlawfully terminated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Green Bank Board of Directors member John Harrity said, and I quote, “it’s just astounding that the work that the Green Bank does, which is so vital to the future of the state and the country and the world, should be impeded in this way.” End quote.

All of these programs, Congress enacted and appropriated funding for in law. They are substituting Congress’ 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 fuel efficiency 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 pesticides 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 parks, which are vital to the economies of so many states. 

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 yield back.

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