Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—the Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee—delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the hearing reviewing the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the U.S. Department of the Interior with Secretary Doug Burgum:
Senator Merkley’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:
“Thank you, Chair Murkowski.
“And welcome, Secretary Burgum.
“The Department of the Interior carries a profound responsibility.
“It is entrusted with: stewarding our nation’s public lands, honoring our commitments to Tribal nations, and safeguarding natural resources for future generations.
“But today, that mission is being undermined in so many ways.
“Let me start with the rule of law.
“The Committee has requirements for reorganizations and reprogrammings.
“In our most recent bill passed in January, we added a requirement to provide ‘advance notification.’
“That requirement is not optional.
“Yet, we only learned about the merger of the offshore wind regulatory and permitting agencies through the news.
“This is not a policy disagreement – this is disregard for the rule of law.
“We also require congressional approval for reorganizations and reprogrammings, and decades of Republican and Democratic administrations followed that requirement.
“Your department’s refusal to cooperate with this Committee’s oversight role is unacceptable.
“You have given us reason for distrust.
“We recently learned that the Department of Justice is paying TotalEnergies $1 billion to cancel projects that would have produced much needed cheaper, cleaner power.
“And in return you are asking Total to export more natural gas abroad, to our competitors. Think about that.
“You are using taxpayer dollars to pay for-profit companies not to produce clean energy and in return asking them to increase gas prices for households here in America!
“At a time when communities are seeing their utility bills climb, we should be investing in clean energy and innovation, not paying for-profit companies to double-down on dirty fossil fuels.
“We were told that this administration is rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse.
“But when taxpayer dollars are being used to pay off industry and make our air dirtier, that scrutiny seems to disappear.
“Where is DOGE now?
“Interior’s actions are rolling out the red carpet for oil and gas projects, yet the Interior Department has actually made it policy to hold renewable energy to a higher standard than polluting oil and gas projects.
“And Interior review is really just code for mothballing projects until the developers lose interest, or run out of money.
“The President has even openly said that he does not want to see more wind turbines built. And your Department falls over itself to carry out his fixation against wind turbines even if that means higher rates for Americans and losing global competitiveness in clean energy development.
“Your budget proposes to eliminate all funding for renewable energy permitting and research.
“Nothing is sacred to this administration.
“That is laid bare when we look at funding for Tribal programs.
“The proposed budget cuts core Tribal programs by one-third.
“That’s $1.5 billion ripped from Tribal governments and Tribal schools for: road repair, agriculture, firefighting, job training, and more.
“For Tribal school construction alone, the budget proposes an 85 percent cut—reducing it to just $35 million across Indian Country.
“Many of these schools are more than 100 years old—much older than most non-tribal schools in the country—and far less likely to have received the upgrades and investments students deserve.
“And what’s especially troubling is that this isn’t new.
“The administration made a very similar proposal last year—and it was met with loud opposition by Tribal leaders and in Congress.
“Bringing it back again says this is not an oversight – it is a choice.
“It says that this is the administration’s vision for Indian Country.
“This pattern of reckless cuts extends across the department.
“Take the Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The budget proposes roughly a 10 percent cut to the National Wildlife Refuge System, places that tens of millions of Americans rely on each year for outdoor recreation, including hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing.
“The budget also eliminates funding for multinational species conservation—programs that work with other countries to: combat wildlife trafficking, protect iconic species like elephants and rhinos, and disrupt the terrorist and criminal networks that profit from it.
“So we are cutting back at home, and ceding our leadership abroad, at the very moment these challenges require cooperation and leadership.
“Turning to the National Park Service, we see the budget request repeating yet more terrible and widely unpopular proposals.
“On top of the already 2,500 employees who have left under threat, the budget proposes to eliminate another 2,500 positions.
“That is not a minor adjustment.
“That is a fundamental hollowing out of the workforce that protects and manages some of our most treasured places.
“Our National Parks are not theme parks that are artificial and solely for entertainment.
“Parks require permanent staff to: protect natural and cultural resources, maintain infrastructure, manage wildfire and water systems, conduct scientific research, and plan for the long term in an ever-changing environment.
“We need trail guides and biologists, fee collectors and full-time maintenance crews.
“But this administration has shown – now, two years in a row – that it wants to unravel the National Park System altogether by cutting hundreds of park treasures out of the system entirely.
“And the next step is inevitable – selling off our public lands to the highest bidder.
“As Wallace Stegner once said, our national parks are ‘the best idea we ever had—
absolutely American, absolutely democratic.’
“As we approach the 250th anniversary of this nation, we should be strengthening that legacy for the next 250 years—not weakening it.
“And yet, when we look at the budget before us, we see a very different set of priorities from the administration.
“We see slush funds and vanity projects and weaponization of longstanding bipartisan programs.
“The budget proposes $10 billion for a Presidential Capital Stewardship Program—focused only on ego-driven vanity projects in Washington, D.C. Deferred maintenance in the D.C. area has been estimated at roughly $2.7 billion—and even that number is likely lower today given ongoing repairs, like Columbus Circle and other projects already underway.
“So we are talking about a proposal that is more than three times the identified need in one city.
“And there is already another $310 million in carryover Legacy Restoration Fund money that the Park Service tells us is also only for Washington D.C.
“At the very same time, the budget requests $9.5 billion per year for 5 years to address deferred maintenance and infrastructure needs across the entire country—from national parks, to wildlife refuges, to Tribal schools. Are we fixing every fountain in Washington several times over while the rest of America’s public lands and Tribal schools fall further into disrepair?
“Beyond that, there are no detailed project proposals, for any of these D.C. projects, just slush funds.
“Yet what we do know raises the most alarm: the President is hell bent on ego-driven vanity projects.
“He’s torn down part of the White House…
“He even renamed a presidential memorial after himself.
“We don’t have to speculate.
“We know that this slush fund will be used for more vanity projects and not to caretake our nation’s capitol.
“The vanity projects are one obsession – the political retribution is another.
“The project lists for the Land and Water Conservation Fund put forward last year and this year were concentrated almost entirely in red states.
“This Committee has worked for years—on a bipartisan basis—to invest in LWCF projects across the country, in red states and blue states alike.
“Frankly, it’s odd to even describe these projects in partisan terms.
“But that’s exactly what’s happening.
“The administration is also requesting an extension of the Legacy Restoration Fund to support deferred maintenance on federal lands and in Tribal schools—which I strongly support.
“But that raises a serious question.
“Can we expect that the administration’s proposed projects will now be distributed based on geography and need—or based on petty politics and retribution?
“Are we going to repair sewer systems only in national parks in red states?
“Repair roads only in national forests in red states?
“Rebuild Tribal schools only in red states?
“Because that is not how these programs have ever worked, and it is not how they should ever work.
“Because, just last week, the President announced plans to unilaterally construct what he called a ‘triumphal’ arch on federal parkland here in Washington, D.C.—without consultation, without public process, without the approvals required under law.
“With planning paid for by taxpayer dollars diverted from a program that funds rural museums and libraries across all states and territories, in a blatant pursuit of his own ego-driven vanity project.
“All of this reveals the core beliefs of this administration:
“Our public lands are there to be exploited, rather than stewarded.
“Our tax dollars are there for the administration to play with – even to do the bidding of the oil and gas industry and build monuments to one man’s ego.
“Congressional oversight doesn’t apply.
“And that, as we approach our 250th anniversary, is simply unacceptable.
“The American people deserve better.
“Thank you.”
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