House Passes Funding Bill That Defends Environment from Harmful Trump Cuts

EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program gets slight funding bump

Important programs that fund Chesapeake Bay clean up were spared in a minibus spending bill passed by the U.S. House yesterday by a 397-28 vote. The Senate is expected to vote on the minibus package next week.

The House budget defends key environmental agencies and programs from heinous cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. These dollars go directly to oyster restoration, land preservation, and scientific research across the country and Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The House’s package also provided an increase of $1 million to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program more than its current funding level of $92 million, which was requested by the Trump Administration.

Additionally, it provides essential funding for key agencies and programs that protect clean water and the Chesapeake Bay that were under greater threat, including:

• Funding for multiple Chesapeake Bay initiatives at the Department of the Interior, including the Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (WILD) grants at $8 million. These grants support community-led initiatives that restore and conserve fish and wildlife habitat. The House’s budget also continues funding for U.S. Geological Survey activities in the Chesapeake Bay, which provide Bay states and other restoration partners with unbiased scientific information to help manage the watershed’s lands, waterways, fish, and wildlife. $3 million was also budgeted for the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateway and Water Trails. President Trump’s budget request had suggested zeroing out these programs.
• $57.685 million for habitat conservation and restoration, with $3.2 million specifically for Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration—the largest oyster restoration effort in the world. $8.7 million was provided for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay watershed education and training program, which gets students and teachers outside learning about nature here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and across the nation. Trump’s FY26 budget had attempted to zero out Bay-related NOAA initiatives.

The minibus’s bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans in the House demonstrates that these investments in the Bay are worth saving. If the bill passes in the Senate and is signed by the president, it will ensure funding for agencies through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 and avoid another near-term government shutdown.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Policy Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement:

“We are thankful that members of Congress are fighting for the federal investments needed to provide clean water and air to benefit communities across the Chesapeake Bay watershed and local economies across our region.

“Bipartisan support for these investments shows that protecting clean water and the Chesapeake Bay truly is an issue that benefits us all. We’re grateful to House members for once again sticking up for our environment and the Chesapeake Bay, and urge the Senate to swiftly pass this minibus bill.”