| The Honorable Patty Murray Chair Committee on Appropriations U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Susan Collins Vice Chair Committee on Appropriations U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 | The Honorable Tom Cole Chair Committee on Appropriations U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Rosa L. DeLauro Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 |
Dear Chairs Murray and Cole, Vice Chair Collins, and Ranking Member DeLauro:
On behalf of our tens of millions of members and supporters across the country, we respectfully request that you significantly increase environmental funding in Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) and exclude any anti-environmental policy provisions from the annual appropriations bills.
Environmental agencies and programs are chronically underfunded. The harmful spending caps imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act have exacerbated this problem, compounding a decade of atrophy wrought by the Budget Control Act. These inadequate top-line funding levels harm communities and ecosystems alike. While we recognize the Committees’ current limitations, we ask that you designate a 302(b) allocation for the Interior-Environment Subcommittees in FY25 that meets or exceeds the president’s budget, which would require a minimum estimated level of $46.75 billion (pending an official score from the Congressional Budget Office). The interim allocation previewed in the House this month was far below this level, and we urge the Committee to reconsider before formally adopting such an allocation, which would result in further damage to programs and the resources they support. We also urge you to oppose anti-environmental policy riders—including those carried forward from prior funding bills—which have no place in the appropriations process.
While we are thankful that the final FY24 spending package rejected the vast majority of extreme policy riders and protected much of the funding for critical environmental work, we remain extremely concerned about unprecedented efforts within the past year to defund and otherwise debilitate our nation’s environmental progress. The House’s draft FY24 spending bills were far outside the norm, and were broadly and forcefully opposed by groups across the environmental community.1https://www.lcv.org/media-center/environmental-groups-oppose-fy24-interior-appropriations-bill/ These bills included cuts far deeper than those required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and incorporated an unheard-of number of egregious anti-environmental policy riders. We ask that you take the opportunity in FY25 to restore some normalcy by rejecting these extreme and polarizing provisions and cuts, which are as damaging as they are unrealistic.
The Committees must make significant investments in environmental agencies and programs just to restore funding to historic standards, much less to meet the actual needs of our nation. These necessary investments become nearly impossible as long as budget caps such as those imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act remain in place. These caps are harmful for our country and force false choices between critical programs, creating a cruel and wholly unnecessary zero-sum game. Removing the budget caps is necessary to meet the country’s environmental needs.
With your leadership, we can—and must—rebuild and equip the crucial agencies and programs that promote environmental justice and protect our health, lands, wildlife, air, water, and oceans. Not only is additional funding necessary to address the climate and biodiversity crises, but these investments can also create good-paying American jobs and revitalize our communities. We thank you for your consideration and stand ready to support you in meeting this request.
Sincerely,
| Alaska Wilderness League American Hiking Society American Rivers Animal Welfare Institute Appalachian Trail Conservancy Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center Chesapeake Climate Action Network Clean Water Action Climate Action Campaign Climate Crisis Policy Coalition to Protect America's National Parks Conservation Lands Foundation Creation Justice Ministries Defenders of Wildlife Earthjustice Earthworks Endangered Species Coalition Energy Alabama Environmental Defense Action Fund Environmental Law & Policy Center Environmental Protection Network Environmental Working Group Extreme Weather Survivors Forest Unlimited Friends of Acadia Friends of Dyke Marsh Friends of the Earth Action Friends of the Inyo Friends of the Sonoran Desert Great Old Broads for Wilderness Green America GreenLatinos Greenpeace USA Interfaith Power & Light League of Conservation Voters Lesson Forest Preservation Group Los Padres ForestWatch Monterey Bay Aquarium | National Audubon Society National Ocean Protection Coalition National Park Solutions, LLC National Parks Conservation Association National Wildlife Federation National Wildlife Refuge Association Natural Resources Defense Council Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness Ocean Defense Initiative Oceana Oil Change International Partnership for Policy Integrity Physicians for Social Responsibility Scenic America Sierra Club Sierra Foothills Audubon Society Sierra Forest Legacy Sierra Nevada Alliance Silvix Resources Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance The Conservation Angler The Earth Bill Network The Pew Charitable Trusts The Wilderness Society Trust for Public Land Union of Concerned Scientists WE ACT for Environmental Justice Western Watersheds Project WildEarth Guardians |