Proposed Bill Maintains Park Service Funding But Reduces Funding For EPA

A new House Republican spending bill would keep recent levels of funding for national parks in the coming year while weakening some protections for wildlife and public lands and slashing the Environmental Protection Agency by 20 percent.  

Parks advocacy organizations voiced gratitude that the bill introduced this week by Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, chairman of the House Interior and Environment appropriations subcommittee, avoided the deep cuts that the Trump administration sought for the National Park Service in its Interior Department spending proposal for the 2027 fiscal year. Simpson's bill will be considered in subcommittee on Thursday.

“NPCA commends the House of Representatives for rejecting the most egregious of the administration’s proposed budget cuts,” said John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Association. “The Park Service has already lost thousands of staff, resulting in reduced protection of irreplaceable resources, shortened visitor center hours, closures of trail and campground and scaled-back programs…Our parks cannot and should not be shortchanged any longer.”

The Simpson bill, however, does cut $41 million (20 percent) from historic preservation, including to state and tribal historic preservation offices that support community-driven efforts. 

And it includes policy provisions that weaken protections for some national parks and public lands. This includes stripping endangered species protections for grizzly bears, grey wolves, wolverines and other species, and undermining protections for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the watershed for Voyageurs National Park.

Simpson said his Interior spending bill protects "the American way of life ... by championing policies that bolster domestic energy, promote critical mineral production, and ensure access to public lands.” 

The bill would appropriate just under the $2.9 billion that the Park Service received for the current fiscal year, which was on par with funding in recent years. In 2025, Congress appropriated $2.894 billion to the Park Service, and in 2026, it was $2.901 billion. 

The bill also specifies that "None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the National Park Service to provide housing to an alien without lawful status under the immigration laws." Interior did not immediately respond to questions from the Traveler about why the committee felt that adding this language was necessary.

Another notable feature of the bill is the 20 percent proposed reduction in funding for the EPA.

A press release from the House Appropriations Committee states that “[t]he bill prioritizes unleashing American energy and rightsizing agency funding levels, including a $1.8 billion reduction (20%) to the Environmental Protection Agency.”

The bill would provide $7.04 billion for the EPA. The proposal includes $216.3 million in cuts for EPA science and technology, $821 million in cuts for environmental programs and management, and $713.2 million in cuts for state and tribal assistance grants.

“This funding bill for the EPA and the Interior Department is heartlessness personified,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The American people don’t support gutting EPA funding needed to protect our health, they don’t support ripping up our public lands, and they don’t support condemning wolves, grizzly bears and wolverines to extinction.”

“Just last year, members of Congress came together to pass a budget that supported our parks and their staff,” said Garder. “They must do it again. Our parks and the people who protect and keep them running deserve more investment, more protection and greater commitment to their future.”