Congress is predominantly rejecting President Trump's proposal to dramatically slash natural resource agency budgets, according to bipartisan plans released this week that seek to uphold funding for national parks and forests, as well as energy and water infrastructure.
The fiscal year 2026 budget proposals for the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and key science agencies include small trims, but largely reject the major cuts the Trump administration outlined more than six months ago.
The president’s request for the National Park Service, for example, would have cut $1 billion in funding. Instead, Congress is opting to keep funding nearly flat at $3.27 billion.
“We are really happy that appropriations leadership on the Republican and the Democratic side are making a very clear statement that our national parks should be supported in terms of funding and in terms of staffing,” said John Garder, the senior director of budget and appropriations at the National Parks Conservation Association.
The organization estimated that the National Park Service has lost more than 24% of its permanent staff since the beginning of the Trump administration. Garder said the budget package requires public lands agencies to maintain the staffing levels needed to fulfill their missions.
The package has the support of Republican House leaders. It includes increased funding for oil and gas development, support for critical minerals extraction and investments to expand nuclear energy capacity.
“We prioritize American energy dominance and safeguarding critical mineral resources, national parks will be open and operating essential wildfire protection programs will remain in place,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said during a committee hearing Tuesday.
Lawmakers want to get the budgets over the finish line by the end of this month to avoid another government shutdown. Colorado’s Democratic senators earlier said they intended to object to moving the budgets forward over the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
