01.08.26

Ranking Member Huffman Statement on FY26 Appropriations Minibus

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) released the following statement after the House passed a bipartisan spending package that protects America's public lands from the Trump administration's most extreme proposals and delivers $5.4 million in projects for California's North Coast:

"President Trump came into this budget demanding we zero out clean energy spending, gut the Park Service by over a billion dollars, and clear the way for selling off America's public lands. This bipartisan bill is Congress saying: not on our watch. Democrats stood our ground and negotiated to leave Trump’s most extreme demands on the cutting room floor.

"Is it perfect? No, Republicans still slashed renewable energy programs and raided mine-cleanup funds. But we kept the Land and Water Conservation Fund intact, saved water programs the administration tried to kill, and put guardrails in place to stop the sale of our national parks. After last year’s Trump-Musk firing spree, we also put in provisions forcing agencies to maintain basic staffing levels. The fact Congress even had to do this tells you everything about this administration's priorities: they'd rather dismantle than govern.

"This wasn't bipartisanship as compromise; this was bipartisanship as rebuke. The Trump budget was so reckless that even his allies in Congress are running from it. This administration came for our parks, our clean energy future, and our clean air and water, and today, they didn't get their way. We'll be here every single time they try again.”

Background

The FY26 appropriations minibus combines three spending bills: Commerce, Justice, and Science; Interior and Environment; and Energy and Water Development. The package is a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that largely maintains funding near FY24 levels while rejecting the Trump administration's most extreme cuts and policy riders.

Key Wins

  • National Park Service: Funded at $3.3 billion—rejecting the administration's proposed $1.2 billion cut. Includes language directing Interior to maintain ownership of national parks, trails, and wild and scenic rivers, and requires agencies to maintain staffing levels.
  • Land and Water Conservation Fund: $900 million preserved for land acquisition and state recreation programs, despite administration efforts to gut the program.
  • Forest Service: Received $3.7 billion for non-fire programs—$1.6 billion above the administration's request.
  • WaterSMART: Programs were preserved despite the administration's request to eliminate all funding.
  • NOAA Fisheries: Maintains FY24 funding levels after the House bill proposed a 40% cut, and provides funds to NOAA to carry out the action plan to enhance the Seafood Import Monitoring Program.
  • Fish and Wildlife Service: Maintains most FY24 funding; rejects numerous ESA riders from the House bill.
  • Indian Health Service: Funded at $8 billion, which is $76 million above the President's request.
  • Oversight: Rejects the administration's proposed 30% cuts to the Department of the Interior's Office of the Inspector General, at Ranking Member Huffman and Representative Maxine Dexter’s request. This independent watchdog tracks down waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption at the agency.

Where Republicans Still Did Damage

  • Tilting the Scales to Big Oil: BLM renewable energy programs slashed from $24 million to $10 million while oil and gas programs got a $7 million boost. BOEM's renewable programs cut by $21 million; conventional energy increased by $11 million. The administration didn't get the complete zeroing-out they wanted, but the message is clear about whose side they're on.
  • Raiding Coal Cleanup Funds: $515 million meant to clean up abandoned coal mines—money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that communities were counting on—redirected to backfill other cuts.
  • Abandoning Western Water: WaterSMART grants gutted from $65 million to $15 million. Drought response funding slashed from $41.8 million to $5 million. In the middle of a historic Western water crisis, this is indefensible.
  • Shortchanging Tribal Communities: Bureau of Indian Affairs cut $400 million below recently enacted levels, even as the administration claims to support Tribal sovereignty.
  • Burying Climate Science: Weather and Air Chemistry Research at NOAA, which includes critical climate research, slashed by 42%.

Delivering for California's North Coast

The spending package includes $5.4 million in community project funding secured by Rep. Huffman for California's 2nd Congressional District:

  • Offshore Wind Tribal Engagement – $1,031,000 Northern California Indian Development Council, Eureka
  • Marin County Water Infrastructure – $2,000,000 Marin Municipal Water District (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
  • Santa Rosa Water Infrastructure – $2,293,000 City of Santa Rosa (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
  • Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Equipment – $153,000 Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, Eureka

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