Simpson Remarks at FY26 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Bill Subcommittee Markup
The Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies will come to order.
I am pleased to be here marking up the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior Appropriations bill with Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, Subcommittee Ranking Member Pingree, and the Members of the Subcommittee.
I’d like to thank Chairman Cole for his leadership of the Committee and getting us to this point in the appropriations process.
I also want to recognize Ranking Member DeLauro and Ranking Member Pingree. Ranking Member Pingree has consistently been a wonderful partner, and I appreciate her commitment to the Subcommittee’s issues. I look forward to continuing our work together to move the Interior bill forward.
Lastly, I want to thank the Members and staff on both sides of the aisle for their work and contributions to the bill.
The Fiscal Year 2026 Interior bill provides $37.97 billion, which is $2.5 billion – or 6.2 percent - below the enacted level.
I have consistently said that I refuse to balance the budget on the backs of Tribes, so I am proud that this bill makes strong investments to further the Federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities.
The bill provides $8.4 billion for Indian Health Services, $1.5 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education, and $2.9 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including $771.84 million for public safety and justice programs to support law enforcement in Indian Country. This includes $31 million for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Initiative, an issue that is very important to me.
This bill also fully funds must-pay costs for our Tribes, including contract support costs and 105 (L) leases.
The total funding in this bill for Indian Country reflects the same level overall that we provided in our FY 25 House Interior bill last year.
The bill again fully funds the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, which provides payments to nearly every State in the country for certain tax-exempt federal lands. Most of our States received their FY 25 PILT payments last month, and this bill ensures that this bipartisan program continues to be fully funded.
Additionally, the bill provides full funding for the Federal wildland firefighter pay fix that was included in the FY 25 CR to help improve firefighter recruitment and retention, and to give financial certainty to the men and women protecting our communities from catastrophic wildfire.
To meet our allocation while prioritizing these critical programs, the bill right sizes funding for most other appropriations.
For example, the EPA is cut by nearly $350 million – or 23 percent – below the enacted level. This cut is deeper than the cut in last year’s FY 25 House Interior bill, with reductions targeted at internal operating programs and regulatory activities. The bill continues to fund grants that go directly to States and Tribes for water infrastructure projects and to help fulfill their delegated authority under federal laws like the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. These programs are important for issuing permits for continued development and economic growth.
The bill also includes Community Project Funding for EPA clean and drinking water infrastructure projects. While requests greatly exceeded the funding available for projects, we did our best to provide some funding for all eligible projects given the impact these dollars will have in communities across the country.
Lastly, in terms of policy, the bill echoes this Administration’s efforts to roll back costly regulatory overreach from the prior Administration and promote domestic energy production by:
Halting heavy-handed, job killing EPA Biden-era regulations;
Limiting the prior Administration’s attempts to abuse the Endangered Species Act and ensuring continued access to our public lands; and
Expanding access to hardrock and critical minerals.
In closing, I am pleased that this bill focuses spending where it is needed most and makes great strides to address critical needs across Indian Country. The bill doubles down on rolling back burdensome and costly regulations from the prior Administration, and it helps unleash American energy and domestic mineral development.
I look forward to working with Ranking Member Pingree and the other Members to move the Interior bill towards enactment.
