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My Work as Ranking Member on the House Interior Appropriations

Ranking Members Merkley, Pingree: Health Care in Tribal Communities in Danger Under Trump’s Hiring Freeze

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Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01), the top Democrats on the subcommittees that oversee funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS), demanded urgent action from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop dangerous cuts to the IHS workforce, which is already facing huge challenges and staffing vacancies. As Ranking Members…

Merkley, Murray, Pingree, and DeLauro: EPA Illegal Funding Cuts Harm Public Health, Environment, and Families

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Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (ME-01), and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) demanded recently confirmed Environmental…

Ranking Member Pingree: Imminent Purge of EPA Employees Will Undermine Agency’s Obligations to Protect Human Health and the Environment

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Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, is calling on the newly-confirmed Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lee Zeldin to reject any effort to purge his agency’s workforce. Pingree’s letter follows reporting from The New York Times that the EPA…

Ranking Member Pingree Condemns Unlawful Funding Freeze, Warns of Devastating Impacts on Tribal Communities and Environment

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House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is sounding the alarm over the Trump Administration’s illegal and unprecedented directive to pause all federal financial assistance. On Tuesday, Pingree released the following statement calling attention to the wide-ranging and life-threatening impacts this brazen act could have on…

VIDEO: In Interior Appropriations Hearing, Ranking Member Pingree Addresses the Importance of Investigating Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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During a House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on missing and murdered indigenous women on Wednesday, Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) highlighted the importance of raising awareness about the growing crisis—and providing the necessary resources to address it. Maulian Bryant, incoming Executive Director of the Wabanaki…

Pingree Urges Biden to Honor US Labor Pioneer, Social Security Architect with National Monument Designation

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Frances Perkins Center

Today, Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree led 42 Members of Congress in urging President Joe Biden to designate the Frances Perkins Homestead in Newcastle as a national monument. “Frances Perkins, who made her home in Maine, was a trailblazer, the first female presidential cabinet member, the mother of the modern labor movement, and a pioneering advocate…

Pingree, Appropriators Press For Answers on Tribal and Senior Food Distribution Shortages

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House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Ranking Member Chellie Pingree joined leaders on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in pressing for answers from U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack regarding failures under its Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), which have inflicted a dire food shortage crisis on…

WATCH: On House Floor, Ranking Member Pingree Leads Opposition to Republican Appropriations Bill Defunding Climate Programs

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Tonight, House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is leading the House Democratic Caucus’s opposition on the floor, where she is pushing back on numerous extreme poison pill Republican amendments. Republicans’ bill takes an aggressive anti-environment, pro-pollution stance with crippling cuts to the Environmental Protection…

VIDEO: In Appropriations Hearing, Interior Secretary Haaland, Ranking Member Pingree Highlight Funding for Climate Resilience, Tribal Stewardship Model in Acadia

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Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, today emphasized the importance of bolstering climate change resilience and supporting tribal co-stewardship in Acadia National Park and other national parks across the county. In a budget hearing this morning with Department of the…

VIDEO: In Interior Appropriations Hearing, Ranking Member Pingree Says Severe Maine Storms Highlight Important Need for Forest Service Disaster Funding

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In a House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee budget hearing for the U.S. Forest Service today, Ranking Member Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) called attention to the severe storms Maine has endured in recent months, which have impacted local economies, infrastructure, and forests.  “Maine’s logging industry suffered more than $2.6…