Bipartisanship Allows EPA and Interior Bay Restoration Work to Escape Budget Cuts in House and Senate Committee Bills

Rejecting the Trump administration’s deep budget cuts, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2026 spending bill yesterday that would continue funding key Bay restoration work at EPA and Interior Department at current levels. The vote was 26-2.

With the House panel approving the same amounts earlier this week, EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program and Interior grants for habitat restoration and historic preservation cleared the first hurdle of Congress’s annual budgeting process without sustaining any cuts. 

But the agencies fared worse overall in the House committee bill, which would cut EPA’s total budget 23 percent, cut funds that help municipalities upgrade sewage treatment plants by 26 percent and lock in the administration’s sweeping staff reductions. The House committee bill also includes a host of policy riders that lack bipartisan backing.  

The White House wanted to zero out funding for the two Interior Department grant programs the Fish and Wildlife Service-run Chesapeake WILD program and the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways and Watertrails. Instead, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees would keep their funding steady next year at $8 million and $3 million, respectively. 

The administration also wanted to eliminate funding for vital U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research and monitoring in the region. The House Appropriations Committee broke with the administration and would continue funding the work at $17.6 million in fiscal 2026. 

The Senate panel did not specify a funding level for USGS’s Bay work, instead increasing the overall budget for the USGS ecosystem research. USGS’s Bay activities are primarily funded through this account. 

The EPA Chesapeake Bay Program leads the partnership of multiple federal agencies, the six Bay states, and the District of Columbia involved in cleaning up the Bay and its local rivers and streams. 

Both bills could still be amended when the full House and Senate consider them on the floor later this year. Floor votes have not yet been scheduled for either bill. 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Senior Policy Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement.  

“It’s a testament to the longstanding bipartisanship behind Bay restoration that EPA and Interior Department programs directly benefiting the Bay region cleared the House and Senate Appropriations Committees with their current funding unchanged.  

“But these bills, and bills that fund essential Bay-related work by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are far from finished. We must remain vigilant and ready to act until the fiscal 2026 spending bills become law. Now is not the time to backtrack on clean water promises. Together, we are making progress toward saving the Bay. 

“CBF appreciates the hard work of Senate Appropriations Committee Bay champions Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with that of Interior-Environment Subcommittee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), full committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), and full committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.).”