Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, released the following statement after a hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request for the U.S. Department of the Interior with Secretary Doug Burgum:
“Secretary Burgum testified as if things at the Department of the Interior are business as usual, while they are anything but.
“Stakeholders, grant recipients, and Congress are completely in the dark as to how taxpayer dollars are going to be spent in this fiscal year. It’s unclear what the Administration will impound next, from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to the ShakeAlert program, to wildfire recovery, to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and National Heritage Areas, which contribute to the economic lifeblood of communities across America. Secretary Burgum refused to inform the Committee about the status of these programs and their funds.
“Thousands of staff have been fired or pushed out under threat. The Secretary has ordered the National Park System to continue operating at full capacity for visitors despite devastating staffing losses, setting them up for failure and risking our parks being loved to death.
“The Trump Administration’s three-step plan is fire everyone, let dysfunction reign, and then jettison hundreds of national park sites to states with an unfunded mandate. Secretary Burgum testified that many parks are so-called ‘cost centers’ instead of important places in our national history and natural treasures. Confirming what Trump’s ‘Skinny Budget’ previewed, he refused to specify which parks the administration wants to purge, despite the budget requesting a specific cut of $900 million for maintaining parks.
“Ahead of fire season, Secretary Burgum focused on reorganizing the government’s wildfire suppression activities while not acknowledging that the Department has pushed out critical fire support staff like dispatchers, mechanics, and logistics support. They are literally playing with fire, and it’s our communities that could get burned.
“Tribal Nations are chronically underfunded and disproportionately impacted, yet Secretary Burgum defended a budget request to cut $1 billion from basic services and education. Secretary Burgum talked about achieving education outcomes across Indian Country but simultaneously wants to starve the programs Native children rely on, not only the schools themselves, many of which are in dilapidated conditions, but also for vital services like public safety, child welfare, and road maintenance for school buses.
“This is all a thinly veiled attempt to cruelly shift resources away from those who need them the most to the very richest among us while giving away our national treasures to the highest bidder. My message to Secretary Burgum is simple: our communities and public lands are not for sale.”
You can also read Merkley’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the opening of the hearing by clicking here.
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