Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Thank you, Chairman Cole and Ranking Member McGovern, for allowing me to testify on the Limit, Save, Grow Act.

I want to start by thanking Speaker McCarthy, Leader Scalise, Ways and Means Chairman Smith, and Budget Chairman Arrington for their hard work on this bill.

I hope the President will come to the table and work with us to ensure our nation does not default on our debt.

I want to highlight one very straightforward idea included in this package: to rescind funds that are not needed at this time and redirect them to other priorities.

For example, as much as $60 billion that was appropriated more than two years ago for COVID remains unspent.

Now that the national emergency is officially over, we should be able to take back those resources.

There is also no reason for the IRS to be holding on to billions of dollars for future years.

The Committee will come to order.

Good afternoon. Today the subcommittee is pleased to be joined by this key panel of Department of the Interior leaders: Director Tracy Stone-Manning with the Bureau of Land Management, Director Martha Williams with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Director Chuck Sams with the National Park Service.

Following our hearing with Secretary Haaland yesterday, we appreciate you all being here today to discuss the bureau-level details and priorities of the administration's fiscal year 2024 budget request.

Among the three DOI Bureaus, you manage most of the land in my home state of Idaho and I am well acquainted with the challenges you and your staff face on a daily basis protecting and conserving our National Parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands.

The hearing will come to order.

Good afternoon and welcome back, for the second time today, to discuss the President's budget proposal for FY 2024.

Earlier this morning, Secretary Haaland with the Interior Department joined us and now we are pleased to welcome Administrator Regan from the Environmental Protection Agency. Thank you for being here today, Administrator Regan.

As you know, I previously served as Chairman of this subcommittee, and I'm very excited to be back in this role again.

In part because I am a lifelong conservationist from a Western state and recognize the importance of protecting and preserving our land and water resources.

The committee will come to order.

Madam Secretary, thank you for being here today. And thank you for our conversation last week in advance of this hearing. I look forward to our discussion on several important issues facing the Department of the Interior.

While I don't agree with all of your decisions or the Administration's policies, I am glad that we have been able to work together on many bipartisan issues, like working to meet our treaty and trust obligations with American Indians and Alaska Natives and implementation of the Great American Outdoors Act.

I am thrilled to return as Chairman of this subcommittee after serving on it over the last two decades. This subcommittee oversees funding for public land agencies like the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service, and as chairman I have a unique opportunity to influence federal policies that directly impact Idaho.

The committee will come to order.

Good morning and thank you to Chief Moore for joining us here on Capitol Hill to discuss the Forest Service's fiscal year 2024 budget request.

I am pleased to return as Chairman of the Interior Subcommittee to have the opportunity to address the critical issues and needs of the U.S. Forest Service. As a Western Member of Congress, fire is far too familiar to the communities in my home state of Idaho and across the West.

I genuinely enjoy the Forest Service employees in our region and value their important work.

They are consistently doing the best job they can with the funding and laws we enact from thousands of miles away in Washington, DC. It's safe to say Forest Service employees are not in it for the money; they join the Forest Service for their love of the outdoors and want to do their part to conserve and protect it.