OVERSIGHT HEARING ON:

• Policy Priorities at the Department of the Interior and the Administration's Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Proposal

TOPLINE MESSAGES:

• Reports of questionable spending by Secretary Zinke have raised significant questions about the Department of the Interior's stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
• The public deserves a detailed accounting of these questionable expenses, particularly now that the Secretary is before Congress requesting additional funding.
• Some examples of questionable spending include $138,670 to replace doors in the Secretary's office; taxpayer-funded helicopter rides in the DC area to accommodate, among other things, horseback riding with Vice President Pence; and taxpayer-funded travel to areas where the Secretary attended political fundraisers (prompting an Inspector General investigation).
• The numerous examples of questionable spending by the Secretary are especially troubling given the fact that he is simultaneously proposing significant funding cuts for important programs serving the American people.
• Secretary Ryan Zinke is requesting 14 percent less funding for the Department, despite billions of dollars' worth of outstanding, critical repairs needed on public lands.
• Other notable cuts include:
  • Cuts to core climate research and science programs at the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies, which will make us less prepared to mitigate the impact of global climate change.
  • Deep cuts to operations and other critical accounts at the National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.
  • Drastic cuts to western drought funding - including a 64 percent cut to the WaterSMART Grants program and a 91 percent cut to the Title XVI Water Reuse Program.
  • Deep cuts for the construction of rural water projects, which deliver drinking water to rural and tribal communities without reliable drinking water.
  • A 90 percent cut from fiscal year 2017 levels to land acquisition through the Land and Water Conservation, a popular bipartisan program that Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) refuses to renew despite its impending September 30th expiration.
• Before we cut vital programs, the public has a right to know whether their money is being spent frivolously on other expenses.
• The administration's budget request also includes a lack of serious funding to address sexual harassment, despite thoroughly documented abuses at multiple DOI agencies and at the Department level, preventing us from adequately protecting Department workers' right to a safe workplace.