What’s the State of Bay Restoration 50 Days into the New Administration?

CBF’s Federal Director gives a frank update on the current chaos in our nation’s capital and what it means for Bay restoration efforts.

Like you, CBF staff tunes into the latest news coming out of Washington, D.C. on a daily basis and are typically left with more questions than answers. At a recent full-staff meeting, CBF’s Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek shared an update on where our work stands almost two months into the second Trump administration.

It has been just over 50 days since the second Trump administration began and there is a lot to talk about, including federal funding freezes, massive efforts to reduce the federal workforce, and a flurry of deregulation actions.

Federal Funding Freezes

The Trump administration came out early on with guidance to agencies to pause federal grant funding going out the door, especially those funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, those with a diversity, equity, and inclusion or environmental justice component, and those focused on the Green New Deal. To give you the most simplistic summary of what has happened: to begin with most federal grants were suspended and, since then, some have opened back up. However, many grants—mainly those out of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) or those with the components I mentioned—are still being held up.

While the Trump administration believes it can hamstring organizations like ours into not working on issues that are core to our mission and values, we will not let them. We will work to ensure that resources are getting to the communities throughout the region that need them to combat things like sea level rise and contaminants in the air we breathe. There is still a lot of uncertainty and anxiety around federal funding.

Reduction in the Federal Workforce

Whether it was the reported 75,000 employees who seized the deferred resignation offer to retire early with a severance package or the reported firing of tens of thousands of probationary employees at every single federal agency or the fact that agencies are submitting reports to the White House today laying out how they will significantly reduce their workforce, one thing is clear: The Trump administration is looking to dismantle the federal workforce.

What does that mean for efforts to save the Bay? It’s not good. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has committed to reducing its budget by at least 65 percent, which will come with a significant reduction in workforce. Or take USDA, which was already experiencing a workforce shortage of staff working with farmers to provide technical assistance for conservation programs, there will be even fewer people now to assist in these critical initiatives. It is hard to tell how agencies are going to be able to meet their statutory requirements without people in place to do it.

We are tracking those who are fired across the federal agencies involved in Bay work, but more are coming. The true impact is yet to be seen.

Rise up with us now.

Contact your members of Congress and urge them to do the right thing: Protect environmental funding! Protect agency staffing!

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Deregulation

There have been numerous executive actions focused on deregulation and we have just started to see the agencies show their cards. Earlier this week, the EPA rolled out 31 deregulatory actions under the false narrative that these actions will provide Americans with clean air and clean water. These included actions to narrow the scope of what is a “Water of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, termination of all DEI and EJ efforts across the agency, and reconsidering standards for toxic air pollutants that impact human health to make them less stringent.

CBF and the environmental community will have our hands full fighting these harmful rollbacks, but we will fight them. And when we fail with this administration, we will go to court because it is the right thing to do. The 19 million people who call our region home deserve clean air, clean water, and healthy communities to thrive in. Be assured we are watching and we will respond strategically.

Congress

Then there’s the 119th Congress or, as I refer to it, the bipartisan backbone needed to ensure work in the Chesapeake Bay region continues.

The federal government is only funded until midnight on Friday, March 14. As we speak, the Senate is working on plans to keep the federal government funded for 30 days. The House passed a bill that would keep it funded for six months but included detrimental cuts to the budget. While we are hopeful, we are still unsure exactly how this will unfold.

I want to take a minute to talk about bipartisanship or the only saving grace to moving our priorities forward. Most likely in late April, we will see a President’s budget request for FY26 that will ask Congress to not fund or significantly reduce funding for key programs like the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, NOAA’s environmental education or oyster restoration work, or the conservation programs at USDA. In his first term Trump did this and Congress said no to these cuts. Bipartisanship is absolutely necessary, and we have Republicans and Democrats ready to respond. Senator Van Hollen (D-MD) and Representatives Wittman (R-VA), Elfreth (D-MD), and Scott (D-VA) already have letters ready to go to circulate to the Bay delegation, as well as leadership on the Hill, on all of our funding priorities. They will stand strong together.

Also coming up is the 2018 Farm Bill which, as you may remember, was supposed to be reauthorized in 2023. Each year Congress has kicked the can down the road and the current extension will expire in September 2025. Two days ago, the Chesapeake Bay Conservation Acceleration Act was introduced in both chambers, outlining our priorities to support farmers who adopt voluntary conservation practices, like planting streamside forest buffers. These efforts are currently support in the Senate by Senators Van Hollen (D-MD), Alsobrooks (D-MD), Fetterman (D-PA), Kaine (D-VA), and Warner (D-VA). In the House it is supported by Representatives Wittman (R-VA), Scott (D-VA), Elfreth (D-MD), and Kiggans (R-VA).

Bipartisanship and support from both the Senate and House of Representatives will mean we keep Bay priorities safe from attacks. We are working hard to ensure that happens.

I know a lot is changing and sometimes at a pace that seems like every five minutes in the federal space. Please know the CBF federal team, with your help, is watching, evaluating, and moving forward strategically to make sure that we can continue to save the Bay.