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Source: Congress.gov
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The Committee on Natural Resources will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess of the committee at any time. For planning purposes, we will plan to recess today at noon for approximately 10 minutes. The committee is meeting today to hear testimony on examining the president's fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Department of Interior. Under Committee Rule 4F, any oral opening statements at hearings are limited to the chairman and the ranking member. I therefore ask unanimous consent that all other members' statements be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted in accordance with Committee Rule 3-0. Without objection, so ordered. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good morning, everyone. I'm happy to welcome Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to the committee today to discuss President Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget request for the department and to hear more about the work that he and his staff have undertaken and their priorities for the year ahead. The committee has jurisdiction over the Department of Interior and its agencies, which oversees 480 million acres of surface land, 750 million acres of subsurface and mineral estate, and more than 2.5 billion offshore acres. Revenues from authorized activities on these lands and waters generated about $20.1 billion for the Treasury in 2025. With numbers like those, we are reminded how much of America's strength is backed and generated by its abundant natural resources. President Trump has issued a charge to unleash American energy and secure our mineral supply chains, and he appointed Secretary Burgum to lead that charge. In the 119th Congress Committee, Republicans have answered that call most recently with the House passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Through common sense, science-based, and economically sound provisions, this committee exceeded our instructions and generated over $18.3 billion in savings and new revenue for the federal government by reinstating quarterly onshore and gas lease sales by increasing domestic mining activity, incentivizing the development of AMWR in Alaska.
In a rapidly developing world of high technology, if the United States is to maintain its global leadership position, we must work with the administration to secure our energy future. Our national parks and our federal lands and waters are economic drivers in many communities across the nation. With more than 570 million Americans visiting DOI-managed lands annually, The outdoor economy contributes $1.1 trillion each year in growth economic impact that sustains communities and provides good paying local jobs. We can promote further access by collaborating with Secretary Burgum and the Trump administration to roll back regulations that hinder access to our public lands and waters. We should focus the efforts of our federal land management agencies on responsibly managing the lands they have been entrusted with and providing excellent service to visitors and permittees of our public lands alike. Legislation like the Bipartisan Explore Act, which passed at the end of last Congress, will help do just that, and we look forward to working with the Secretary to implement this landmark legislation. Our nation is stronger because of the work done by this committee at the Department of the Interior as well. Unleashing American energy and mineral production, increasing public access, and streamlining onerous permitting processes will provide for the security and well-being of our country as we responsibly steward our resources. I look forward to hearing from Secretary Burgum regarding the Trump administration's priorities for the department and the opportunities that we have to work together to strengthen our country, unleash our natural resource wealth, and chart a path that we can look back on one day and saying that we did something that's worthy to be remembered. Secretary Burgum, welcome and thank you for joining us today. I yield back and I recognize Ranking Member Huffman for an opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary. Welcome.
Thanks for being here. I don't have to tell you, Mr. Secretary, that your department has enormous responsibilities, managing one-fifth of all U.S. lands, helping fulfill trust obligations to tribal nations, managing national parks, water systems, protecting our native fish and wildlife, and of course playing a role in wildfire prevention and response. Across every region and state in this country, for many years people have been able to rely on Interior. to discharge these responsibilities. And then Doge came along with its directive to cut, fire, eliminate, to literally go fast and break things. And Doge has been allowed to take a wrecking ball to every part of Interior. The consequences could be devastating for millions of everyday Americans. So just take wildfire. Our country's heading into another brutal fire season. And yet Interior's capacity to prepare for and respond to wildfire has been gutted. Now, you testified in the Senate, Mr. Secretary, only about the number of wildland firefighters between your agency and the Department of Agriculture. But it takes a lot more than that, as anyone who has visited a fire camp understands all too clearly. And those people, those thousands of support personnel, including certified wildfire personnel, are gone. It also takes money. Congress appropriated a lot of that for fuel treatment and other much-needed prevention work, and it has been inexplicably delayed, setting us back. So these decisions pose real and immediate threats to homes, lives, and livelihoods. At a minimum, Mr. Secretary, I hope your testimony will acknowledge this reality and this problem. I would like to hear you not only acknowledge what DOJ cuts have done to our fire preparedness, but commit to fix it. Now, we hear the same problematic story across Interior.
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