Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, the Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement after the House and Senate negotiated text of the Interior-Environment FY 2026 Appropriations bill was released:
“This bill is far superior to a Continuing Resolution for funding the core programs covered by the Interior Subcommittees of the House and Senate.
“Although not as strong as I would prefer, this bill honors Congress’s Power of the Purse by providing new backstops to hold the Trump Administration accountable for dispersing funds in accordance with Congressional direction.
“This bipartisan bill protects funding for operating and protecting our public lands, making it clear that Congress intends to fight back against any attempt to sell off our public lands.
“The bill removes dozens of poison pill riders and funds clean air and clean water programs.
“It supports Tribal nations by funding trust and treaty responsibilities.
“Ultimately, this bill is a bipartisan assertion of Congress’s power and priorities in the face of Trump’s illegal maneuvers, and I’ll work to get it passed into law.”
Key Points & Highlights – Protecting Public Lands
Public Lands: The bill rejects President Trump’s efforts to shortchange America’s cherished landscapes by ensuring that resources remain in place to fully support longstanding operations of the National Park System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, National Conservation Lands, and the National Forest System. The bill provides the funding necessary to maintain personnel at prior year levels, rejecting President Trump’s efforts to entrench damaging staffing cuts, and requires the staffing levels necessary to be able to provide visitor services, facilitate Tribal consultation, ensure public safety, and carry out the science necessary to respond to growing natural threats and increased visitation.
National Park Service: The bill provides $3.27 billion for the National Park Service, including $2.87 billion for the operation of the National Park System, which is $1.15 billion higher than the level requested by President Trump. The bill provides the resources to sustain fiscal year 2024 staffing levels and provides the funding necessary to support a full complement of seasonal staff during fiscal year 2026. The bill also provides $205 million for the Historic Preservation Fund, including specified funding of $23.75 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and $62.15 million for State Historic Preservation Offices. The bill provides funding typically allocated for Line Item Construction Projects with funding for park repairs, while awaiting information about specific construction projects that are shovel-ready.
Forest Service: The bill provides $6.13 billion for the Forest Service, excluding additional funding for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve. Of this amount, $3.7 billion is provided for the Forest Service’s non-wildland fire management responsibilities—providing sufficient funds to sustain appropriate staffing levels. The bill rejects the steep $1.4 billion cut to the Forest Service’s non-fire budget proposed by President Trump. The bill provides funding for the Forest Service to improve forest restoration and fire risk reduction efforts on federal lands and through cross-boundary partnerships. It also provides $177 million for hazardous fuels reduction projects, $31 million for the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, and $6 million for the Legacy Roads and Trails program to prioritize fish passage improvements and repurposing unnecessary roads as trails. The bill also provides specified funding of $61.5 million for federal and cooperative research programs, $58 million for cooperative and forest health management programs, $5.5 million for Community Forest and Open Space Conservation, $37 million for Urban and Community Forestry, and $19 million for International Programs and Trade, all programs and grants to states that President Trump has proposed eliminating.
Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF): The bill allocates $900 million for federal land acquisition and financial assistance to states provided through the LWCF under the Great American Outdoors Act. This program is critical for improving recreational access to our federal lands, protecting iconic landscapes, delivering grants to states and local governments to create and protect urban parks and open spaces, and providing farmers and ranchers with easements to allow them to continue to steward their private lands in the face of development pressures.
Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT): The bill fully funds payments to counties through the PILT program, which are estimated at a total of $550 million.
Key Points & Highlights – Protects Full Funding for Wildland Firefighting
Supporting Federal Wildland Firefighters: The bill provides funding for the permanent pay fix and job series for federal wildland firefighters to prevent a devastating pay cut for the firefighting workforce. The pay fix was enacted as part of the fiscal year 2025 continuing resolution and began as a temporary bonus for Forest Service and Department of the Interior firefighters provided in the Infrastructure and Investment in Jobs Act. The bill does not endorse the consolidation of federal wildland firefighting into one agency as proposed in President Trump’s budget request. Instead, it specifically provides funding to continue wildland firefighting using the longstanding practice of funding both the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to allow Congress to consider legislative proposals for such a major change.
Supresión de incendios forestales: The bill fully funds essential wildfire preparedness and suppression efforts by providing $4.25 billion for wildfire suppression, of which $2.85 billion is for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund. The Reserve Fund provides the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior with anassured amount of funding to be used when major fire activity requires expenditures exceeding regular base suppression operations funding. This funding level—in addition to carryover balances—is anticipated to meet projected needs for fiscal year 2026 wildfires.
Key Points & Highlights – Protects Full Funding for Tribal Programs
Programas tribales: In total, the bill provides $12.1 billion for Tribal programs across the Department of the Interior and the Indian Health Service. The bill rejects nearly $1 billion in cuts to Tribal programs that President Trump proposed, and it sustains funding for Tribal governments to provide basic governmental services across Indian Country.
Indian Health Service (IHS): The bill provides $8.2 billion in total resources for IHS—a program increase of $87.1 million over fiscal year 2025—to maintain critically important health care services and maintain staffing for doctors, nurses, and health services staff at existing and newly opened facilities.
Importantly, the bill rejects President Trump’s proposal to eliminate advance appropriations for IHS, which were provided in a historic first in fiscal year 2023. The bill provides an advance appropriation for fiscal year 2027 of $5.3 billion to ensure budget certainty for a health care system that provides health services to 2.5 million people across Indian Country. This advance appropriation will provide the funding IHS needs to provide essential health services to patients in thefollowing fiscal year. Finally, the bill provides the funding necessary for staffing at newly constructed facilities and to ensure that IHS has the health care providersneeded to meet increased patient demand.
Supporting Tribal Self-Governance and Essential Services: Rejecting President Trump’s proposed $911 million cut, the bill provides an increase of $35.4 million for a total of $1.93 billion in funding for the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ operations of Indian programs. These are the essential government services for critical areas like roads, housing improvement, natural resources protection, Tribal courts, economic development, and social services. This funding enables Tribal governments to exercise self-determination and is crucial to upholding the federal government’s trust responsibility.
Justicia y seguridad pública tribal: The bill rejects President Trump’s proposed $107 million cut to Tribal public safety and justice programs and instead boosts funding to support and invest in these programs by providing an increase of $14.5 million above fiscal year 2025 for a total of $570 million. This funding supports police services, special initiatives to address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons cases, Tribal courts, and the hiring of detention and corrections officers.
Maintaining Investments in Tribal Schools: The bill rejects President Trump’s proposed $187 million cut to funding for Tribal schools and instead maintains $1.37 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education to support a school system of 183 schools and 33 Tribal colleges and universities delivering educational services to nearly 57,000 students. The bill provides $1.1 billion for education programs and operations for teachers and school staff. This includes funding to support school operational requirements, staffing, operating costs, Native language programs, scholarships, and support for school connectivity and remote learning capabilities. The bill also provides $234 million for construction of educational facilities to help keep pace with maintenance and build critical new facilities. These investments in school facilities are critical to improve educational opportunities and service delivery for Native American students.
Tribal Sovereignty Payments: The bill fully funds Tribal Sovereignty Payments, which consist of contract support costs and 105(l) lease payments, including the increased contract support costs associated with third-party billing for IHS as a result of the June 2024 Supreme Court ruling on Becerra vs. San Carlos Apache Tribe. These are required payments that provide funding for Tribes’ administrative overhead costs for self-governance under the Indian Self-Determination Education and Assistance Act. Ranking Member Merkley strongly supports reclassifying these costs to align with a series of court rulings finding that they are a mandatory obligation of the federal government, which is also important so that growth in these costs does not threaten funding for other critical Tribal programs.
Key Points & Highlights – Investing in Clean Air and Water
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The bill provides $8.82 billion in essential funding for EPA’s critical responsibilities to protect our environment and the American people’s health—$1.8 billion above the level in House Republicans’ bill and $4.7 billion above the level requested by President Trump. It increases funding levels for state and Tribal assistance grant programs and the geographic programs. It also protects Energy Star, the voluntary energy efficiency labeling program, which President Trump sought to eliminate.
The Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, which provide funding for water and wastewater projects, are funded at the fiscal year 2025 levels of$2.76 billion; this is $660 million above the level in House Republicans’ bill and $2.46 billion above the level requested by President Trump. The Hazardous Substance Superfund program continues to receive its core funding from the Ley de Empleo e Inversión en Infraestructura (IIJA) y el Ley de Reducción de la Inflación (IRA).
The bill also maintains funding for all categorical grant programs that states rely upon, and in some specific cases, increases these programs, like state and local air quality management, pollution control, and nonpoint sources programs—nearly all of which were eliminated in President Trump’s budget request.
The bill enables EPA’s research mission to continue cutting-edge research and retain key scientific expertise, such as research into air and energy, safe andsustainable water resources, and sustainable and healthy communities.
Key Points & Highlights – Cultural Programs
Smithsonian Institution: The bill fully protects funding for the Smithsonian Institution by providing $1.081 billion, a small reduction of $10 million that reflects the end of a one-time construction project, while also increasing funding for its world-class museums. The bill rejects President Trump’s proposal to shutter the National Museum of the American Latino. It also rejects his proposal to eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities and instead continues funding of $207 million for each endowment.
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