The League of Conservation Voters and Trust for Public Land led 67 groups in urging appropriators to allocate funding for the Fiscal Year 2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that meet or exceed the President’s Budget, and to oppose the inclusion of anti-environmental policy riders in these bills.

***

May 20, 2024

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.^[1] 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

 

Cc:

Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. House of Representatives

Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer, U.S. Senate

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. House of Representatives

Chair Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget

Chair Jodey C. Arrington, U.S. House Committee on the Budget

Ranking Member Charles E. Grassley, U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget

Ranking Member Brendan F. Boyle, U.S. House Committee on the Budget

Chair Jeffrey A. Merkley, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Chair Mike Simpson, U.S. House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Ranking Member Chellie Pingree, U.S. House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Director Shalanda D. Young, U.S. Office of Management and Budget