House subcommittee grills Interior secretary over FY2026 cuts, tribal and park impacts

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies questioned Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on the administration's fiscal year 2026 budget blueprint and its potential effects on tribal programs, national parks and scientific agencies. Secretary Burgum discussed the administration's priorities and defended the proposal; lawmakers pressed him on cuts and the department's capacity to carry out services if Congress provides more funding than the president requested.

The budget blueprint “provides roughly 10,600,000,000.0 for the Department of Interior programs under this subcommittee's jurisdiction,” the subcommittee chair said in opening remarks, and Secretary Burgum told members the president’s broader departmental request totals $11,900,000,000 in current authority. “The president's 2026 budget blueprint requests $11,900,000,000 in current authority for the department,” Burgum said in his testimony.

Why it matters: ranking members from both parties warned the proposed reductions would affect core functions. Ranking Member Chellie Pingree said the plan “is a blueprint for dismantling the very mission of the Department of Interior,” citing proposed cuts to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Geological Survey and National Park operations. Members said those programs underpin public-safety, tribal treaty obligations and scientific monitoring used by states and local governments.

Lawmakers emphasized constraints in the department’s current operations. Pingree and other members said recent personnel actions and a hiring freeze have reduced capacity for routine work, and raised concerns about the department’s ability to obligate appropriated funds quickly once they are apportioned by OMB. Secretary Burgum responded that the department would “spend the amounts provided in an enacted bill,” and said his team was “pushing” OMB to release apportionments so states and grant recipients can receive funds.

Members from both parties said they will scrutinize specific program lines during the subcommittee’s month-long appropriations review and that the subcommittee is unlikely to accept all administration cuts. Chairman Mike Simpson said the hearing was “just the first step” in the committee’s process; Rep. Tom Cole, chairman of the full committee, urged timely detail from the administration so Congress can draft informed appropriations measures.

Discussion versus decision: the hearing produced no binding appropriations decisions. Members expressed positions and sought commitments about how the department would use any funds Congress provides above the president’s request; Secretary Burgum said the department would follow enacted law and try to accelerate apportionments. Members warned they may restore or reallocate funding during the committee mark-up.

Ending: committee leaders said they will press the department for additional budget detail and will pursue program-level negotiations in coming weeks as they draft the FY2026 Interior appropriations bill.