US Senate panel moderates House EPA, Interior cuts in bipartisan spending bill

The US Senate Appropriations Committee advanced legislation that would maintain relatively consistent funding for the US Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department, in contrast to the House version that called for more drastic cuts.

In a 26-2 bipartisan vote on July 24, the full committee advanced the fiscal year 2026 Interior and Environment spending bill. The bill would give the EPA $8.64 billion — about 5% less than the fiscal year 2025 enacted level but $1.6 billion more than the amount approved by Republicans in the House.

The bill would also provide $15.1 billion for the Interior Department, up from the $14.8 billion proposed in the House bill.

"This legislation fulfills our commitments to tribes while balancing energy production, conservation, and recreation," Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican-Alaska, chair of the appropriations committee's Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, said in a statement. "It also supports our public lands while providing for clean air, clean water, and clean soil."

The Senate version of the bill also omits many of the more partisan policy riders, such as banning the EPA from using funds to enforce Biden-era power plant emissions rules. The bill would also allow funds to be used for environmental justice initiatives, in contrast to the House version.

The bill underscores the reality of the US Senate's appropriations process, where Democratic support will ultimately be needed to move legislation forward. The House version of the bill advanced purely along party lines and did not receive a single Democratic vote.

The upper chamber's bill also differs starkly from the White House's proposed budget, which called for a 55% reduction in EPA funding and would slash Interior's budget by over 30%. In May, Murkowski called many of the cuts in the White House budget "problematic."

"These may not be the bills I would have written on my own. There's more I certainly want to see us do and investments and accountability measures I'll keep pushing for," Senator Patty Murray, Democrat-Washington, the appropriations committee's top Democrat, said in a statement. "But these bills are serious, bipartisan compromises that reject so many of the truly harmful cuts Trump and House Republicans are pushing for and that maintain crucial programs that help make sure folks back home have a roof over their head, safe, reliable transportation, and clean air and water."

The committee's report also expressed concerns over the EPA's decision to eliminate its Office of Research and Development (ORD), which provides the scientific underpinning for much of the agency's rulemaking and regulations. The committee ordered the agency to "immediately halt all actions related to the closure, reduction, reorganization, or other similar such changes to ORD and the EPA scientific workforce." A committee report is generally not legally binding unless adopted by reference into the legislation.

"If the administration continues to wish to pursue this change, include any such changes within the President's budget request for fiscal year 2027 as a proposal for the committee to make a decision on in a final funding bill for that year," the report said.

The House, Senate and White House need to agree on a spending bill, or pass a continuing resolution, by Sept. 30 or risk a government shutdown.