Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today was elected to serve as House Appropriations Committee Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair. After seven years on the House Appropriations Committee, Pingree will take the gavel and lead the subcommittee that oversees discretionary spending for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, US Forest Service, and several agencies related to the arts and humanities.

“I am honored to lead the House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee at this critical moment. The last four years have done enormous damage to our environment and set back America’s efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. We have no time to waste. As Chair, I will fight to undo the harmful policies enacted by the last Administration and provide the resources needed to preserve the long-term health of our environment,” said Pingree.

Pingree continued: “As a member of the Subcommittee for the past seven years, I have secured significant funding for Maine’s tribes, environmental preservation programs, our cultural economy, and our forests -- and as Chair I will have the opportunity to put these priorities at the top of the Committee’s agenda.”

The U.S Constitution specifies that “Congress—and in particular, the House of Representatives—is invested with the “power of the purse,” the ability to tax and spend public money for the national government,” which falls to the Appropriations Committee. The House Appropriations Committee has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending but does not have jurisdiction over mandatory federal spending (i.e., Social Security, Medicare). 

The House Appropriations Committee — comprised of 30 Democrats and 23 Republicans and organized into 12 subcommittees in the 117^th Congress — is responsible for investments in families and communities across America, providing funding to create jobs, grow our economy, keep our country safe and secure, and build for the future. The Committee is led by Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). Pingree, along with her fellow Appropriations subcommittee chairs, are tasked with authoring 12 annual spending bills for consideration by the full committee. 

A full list of the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction can be found below:

• Department of the Interior (except Bureau of Reclamation and Central Utah Project)
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Related Agencies
  • Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
  • Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (HHS) 
  • Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board 
  • Commission of Fine Arts 
  • Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Environmental Quality 
  • Forest Service (USDA) 
  • Indian Health Service 
  • Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development 
  • John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 
  • National Capital Planning Commission 
  • National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities (except Institute of Museum and Library Services) 
  • National Gallery of Art
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (HHS, formerly EPA/Superfund) 
  • Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation 
  • Presidio Trust 
  • Smithsonian Institution 
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 
  • Eisenhower Memorial Commission 
  • Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Pingree has been a member of both the House Appropriations Committee and the Interior and Environment Subcommittee since 2013. She serves as co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus and is a nationally recognized leader on climate change and environmental issues in Congress. High resolution photos of Pingree in committee proceedings can be downloaded here. 

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