Ranking Member Pingree Remarks at the Fiscal Year 2026 Department of the Interior Budget Hearing

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01), Ranking Member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee's fiscal year 2026 Department of the Interior budget hearing:

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, thank you for holding this hearing this morning, and Secretary Burgum, thank you very much for being with us today. I appreciated that the slight delay in committee gave me a chance to say an initial hello to you, and nice to meet, even though I represent Maine, a fellow Midwesterner, since I was born in Minnesota. Yeah sure, you betcha.

I do want to thank you for bringing your many skills as a former governor and a businessman to this very important position. 

The Department of Interior is tasked with protecting and managing our natural resources and cultural heritage, to providing scientific information about those resources, and honoring our trust and treaty responsibilities. 

But I will warn you, I am very concerned about the state of the Department of Interior. From my view, in just four months, the Department has been destabilized, and there has been a stunning decline in its ability to meet its mission. Given your extensive executive experience, I am disappointed that you would allow this to happen. 

In partnership with Elon Musk’s, what I consider a “rogue agency,” the DOGE, you have illegally canceled grants for conservation, for ecosystem restoration, and other important work. Over 1,700 probationary employees have been recklessly fired, and 7,600 people, or 11 percent, of the Interior workforce, have been pushed to resign. These are not just numbers—these people are experts and dedicated public servants with decades of programmatic and institutional knowledge that is critically needed to ensure the Department fulfills its mission and is a guardian of our public lands. 

To make matters worse, the agency has a hiring freeze, and you are considering even further reductions-in-force. I don’t see this ending well for this precious agency, that this committee is dedicated to oversee. And this committee has devoted hundreds of hours to nurturing this agency. I am very proud to serve on a committee that generally works in a bipartisan way to make sure that the Department of Interior stays strong. 

Further, due to the policies you have instituted, employees are hamstrung from accomplishing everyday tasks by absurdly limiting credit card expenditures to $1. This is no way to efficiently run an organization, and in fact these actions seem to be designed to obstruct employees from doing their job. 

Even the National Park Service feels that it’s been under attack. Ahead of peak season, you have gutted staff. So my national park, like Acadia in my home state of Maine, is understaffed and without the resources needed to keep summer visitors safe. Our parks are pristine and need to be protected.

Fiscal Year 2026 is equally devastating, with a proposed cut to the Department of 30 percent. 

That budget eviscerates the U.S. Geological Survey with a proposed $564 million cut, targeting scientific research on natural hazards, ecosystems, water, and Earth mapping. These programs help us monitor and provide real-time earthquake and hazard information, they strengthen our assessment of groundwater and surface water systems, and they help ensure our national security by informing the management of our mineral and energy resources. 

Without these programs at USGS, our communities will be left vulnerable to natural disasters and deprived of the scientific data that guides responsible land management.

This budget with a 30 percent cut shamefully abandons our trust and treaty obligations to Native Americans, slashing the Bureau of Indian Affairs' public safety and justice programs by 19 percent when we are already only meeting a fraction of the need. The budget also chooses to eliminate funding for desperately needed school construction, leaving a $1 billion repair backlog untouched.

So, Secretary Burgum, the document we are here to discuss today is more than just a budget. It’s a blueprint for dismantling the very mission of the Department of Interior—making it impossible to protect our natural resources and iconic national parks or uphold our commitments to Tribal communities now and for future generations.

As the Ranking Member on this committee, I wholeheartedly oppose these cuts. I cannot stand by and watch this agency be hollowed out. 

So, thank you again for being here this morning. I’m sorry that we disagree on the perspective on how this department should be run, and I do hope you are here to give us a rationale for these decisions or to work with us to reverse them.

And I yield back.

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