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House Republicans passed their fiscal year 2024 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill that takes an aggressive anti-environment and pro-pollution stance with a crippling 39% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and policy provisions that will endanger public health, strain the economy, and increase costs. In remarks before the Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said Republicans’ bill will completely debilitate America’s ability to address the climate crisis. 

“Like so many of you in the room, I'm a parent and grandparent. I have three children, seven grandchildren. I'm really proud of that. I think that one of our biggest goals as Members of Congress is making sure that we give them a safe, secure, and better future. And right now, one of the most critical things that we can do is guarantee that they have a healthy planet where they can have a future existence, where they can live productive lives. When I think ahead of 2070, I'm very worried about whether or not that will exist,” Pingree said in her remarks. “[…] Climate change has clearly reached a crisis point, and experts agree that we must take bold action to avoid a major irreversible catastrophe. So, I am so disappointed and frustrated by this bill before us. Almost a year ago in Congress, we passed and the President signed into law the most significant piece of climate legislation this nation has ever seen, the Inflation Reduction Act. But this bill guts it. All of our climate progress will be rolled back, and America's ability to address climate change will be utterly debilitated. We will not be able to keep that promise to our children and grandchildren.”

Pingree’s full remarks are available to watch here; a complete transcript is copied below.

The bill also slashes funding for arts programs and prohibits funding for the new National Museum of the American Latino and the operation of the existing Molina Family Latino Gallery, which will prevent the Smithsonian from highlighting the contributions of American Latinos in United States History and culture. 

The Republican bill cuts programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by $9.4 billion. These cuts include $7.8 billion from the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund which supports investments for disadvantaged communities and the creation of high-paying jobs. Republicans cut $1.4 billion intended to address environmental health impacts in underserved communities. They also slashed hundreds of millions in additional funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

The bill includes $34.8 billion, which is $5.7 billion below the 2023 level, a cut of 14%.

The legislation:

1. Hinders the U.S. response to the Climate Crisis and fails to address the growing number and severity of extreme weather events by cutting efforts to reduce carbon emissions and community resiliency programs. 
2. Slashes funding for national parks, threatening Americans’ ability to enjoy public lands.
3. Exacerbates environmental discrimination against rural and poor communities by defunding environmental justice initiatives. 
4. Promotes dirty energy by requiring fossil fuels lease sales while prohibiting growth in clean energy projects.
5. Hastens ecosystem decline by allowing harmful and dirty mining activities and by removing Endangered Species Act protections for numerous species.
6. Promotes hate and discrimination by prohibiting funds for advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, censoring commemoration of LGTBQI+ pride, and prohibiting the Smithsonian Institution from highlighting the contributions of American Latinos in U.S. history and culture.

“I have proudly worked across the aisle to protect our environment for Americans past, present, and future, and I am immensely disappointed to see the majority abandon their commitment to conserving America’s fragile lands and natural resources,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said. “The ramifications of cuts in this bill would reach every corner of the Interior Department. It damages our public lands, promotes dirty energy, jeopardizes biodiversity, and obstructs the U.S. response to the climate crisis. On top of these dangerous cuts, Republicans are slashing funding for the arts – including the National Endowment for the Arts’ flagship Grants for the Arts Projects program, which benefits individual and community well-being and supports the economy in all 435 of our Congressional districts – and they are prohibiting the Smithsonian from highlighting the contributions of Latinos in U.S. history and culture by not making it possible to move forward with the National Museum of the American Latino, making Hispanics invisible. These cuts are shameful and do not represent American values.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s remarks as prepared for delivery are available here.

The text of the bill, before the adoption of amendments in full committee, is here. The bill report, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, is here. Information on Community Project Funding is here.

In January, Pingree was named Ranking Member of the Subcommittee in the 118th Congress. As Chair of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee in the 117th Congress, Pingree wrote Appropriations bills for the 2022 and 2023 Fiscal Years that made unprecedented investments that reflect House Democrats’ enduring commitment to environmental justice, renewable energy, health infrastructure on tribal lands, and the arts, among other notable investments. 

Pingree delivered the following remarks at the markup of the Subcommittee’s fiscal year 2024 funding bill:

I really appreciate that you started out by talking about our children and our children's future, because I was thinking about that going into this bill.

 And I think your chief of staff and her daughter for being our examples here today. But I think, like so many of you in the room, I'm a parent and grandparent. I have three children, seven grandchildren. I'm really proud of that. I think that one of our biggest goals as Members of Congress is making sure that we give them a safe, secure, and better future.

And right now, one of the most critical things that we can do is guarantee that they have a healthy planet where they can have a future existence, where they can live productive lives. When I think ahead of 2070, I'm very worried about whether or not that will exist, whether you're thinking about the temperature in Phoenix right now, the floods we just experienced in northern New England, Vermont, the 90-degree weather water off the coast of Florida.

Climate change has clearly reached a crisis point, and experts agree that we must take bold action to avoid a major irreversible catastrophe. So, I am so disappointed and frustrated by this bill before us.

Almost a year ago in Congress, we passed and the President signed into law the most significant piece of climate legislation this nation has ever seen, the Inflation Reduction Act.

But this bill guts it. All of our climate progress will be rolled back, and America's ability to address climate change will be utterly debilitated. We will not be able to keep that promise to our children and grandchildren.

The bill slashes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by nearly 40%, 40%. That's nearly $4 billion less than we appropriated in FY 23.

It rescinds more than $7 billion of vital investments that we provided through that Inflation Reduction Act. And it was about time we provided that funding that was important for the United States to take immediate economy wide climate action in addition to the cut proposed in the foreign state and foreign ops bill that we already did, the Republicans interior bill virtually eliminates the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was established by the Inflation Reduction Act to mitigate the costs of climate pollution through investment in low and zero emission technologies.

But the damage inflicted in this bill extends far beyond climate change. This bill wipes out environmental justice program, and it cuts 1.4 billion from environmental and climate justice grants made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act. It curtails the progress that has been made to ensure that all people are equally protected from environmental and health hazards. This bill abandons our most vulnerable groups that currently bear a disproportionate share of negative environmental impacts, which includes large swaths of rural communities that I and many of my colleagues across the aisle represent.

Bill also slashes funding for enforcement of the Clean Air and Clean Water Act, which just makes it easier for polluters to pollute. The cuts in this bill are so severe that even agencies that usually garner bipartisan support are targeted for damaging reductions. Funding for the National Park Service, for example, will be cut by 13%. National parks from Maine to Alaska are already severely understaffed, and we have made a concerted effort over the last few years to build staffing back up.

But as with all the appropriations bills under the Majority, this bill takes us backwards. Let me be clear: The consequences of these cuts will be acutely felt in our parks and in our communities. Acadia National Park in Maine won't be able to hire its appropriated seasonal positions, and the existing permanent staff will need to be cut, forcing tough decisions about furloughing or reductions in force.

This will severely hamper the service's ability to protect and preserve the natural and cultural resources in our national parks and will jeopardize the visitor experience. Do we really want parks overflowing with trash and dirty bathrooms, trails that are unsafe because there isn't staff capacity to keep them maintained? These impacts won't be limited to the parks themselves, but will bleed into the gateway communities and cause economic harm.

For example, in 2021, 4.1 million park visitors spent an estimated 486 million in local gateway regions while visiting Acadia National Park in my state. These visitors supported a total of 6,840 jobs and $702 million in economic output that local areas surrounding Acadia National Park, including Bar Harbor, depend on. With Parks continuing to break visitation records, now is not the time to decrease the Service’s budget.

The bill also significantly reduces funding for the arts and humanities agencies. The cuts to the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art are so deep that they will be forced to reduce the number of hours or days each week that the museums are open to the public. The Smithsonian cut represents about 200 full time equivalent positions, many of whom keep the museums open seven days a week.

Security guards, building service workers and curators. The 23% cut to the National Gallery's budget would eliminate 180 full time employee jobs. Staffing cuts of this magnitude would make it impossible to safely operate the museum and protect the collections and buildings.

When our constituents bring their families to see our nation's capital, I think all members in this room expect they should have access to these museums, but this bill takes that away. The bill also fails our ... our nation's wildland firefighters.

It does not provide any of the funding requested by the administration to support wildland firefighters and their families through better compensation, safe housing, and health and well-being assistance. Without this funding, firefighters will lose the compensation increases first provided in the bipartisan Infrastructure law at the end of last year. I was relieved to see that the bill continues to advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service that was put in place by Democrats last year.

The truth of the matter is, if Congress did its job, these appropriations would not be necessary. But unfortunately, House Republicans are showing us why such a backstop is critical. By reneging on the budget agreement and doggedly pursuing partisan appropriations bills, they are putting us on a path to a government shutdown. Sadly, the bill also contains numerous discriminatory riders which have proven so divisive in earlier markups.

I am particularly shocked to see the majority's posture towards Latinos with a policy rider that supports the Smithsonian, that prohibits the Smithsonian Institution from highlighting the contribution of American Latinos in U.S. history and culture by denying funds for the new National Museum of the American Latino and for the operation of the Molina Family Latino Gallery. Finally, the bill includes an exhaustive list of anti-environment riders that seek to derail, derail any effort to combat climate change and undermine our clean water and clean air protections.

They give an open invitation to exploitive oil, gas, and mineral leasing by blocking environmental regulations and overriding judicial review. At the same time, the bill suppresses clean energy production. Clean, renewable energy is critical. If we are going to save our planet for future generations. The majority of Americans support becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and they support taking responsibility for future generations.

The austere and irresponsible cuts in this bill do not align with their values. Thank you again to Ranking Member DeLauro for her tireless efforts on the committee, the staff on both sides of the aisle. I oppose this bill. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I yield back.

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