Cantwell Slams Trump Budget that Relies on Selling Public Lands, Shortchanging LWCF
Cantwell rebukes Interior Secretary Burgum’s claim that DOI aims to acquire more public lands: “Your budget doesn't say that, and I think it's heading to a catastrophe.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, senior member U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) pressed U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on President Donald Trump’s alarming budget proposal for the Department of the Interior (DOI) that directly contradicts the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act and the Great American Outdoors Act – two landmark bipartisan bills Sen. Cantwell helped author and championed during the first Trump Administration that first fully authorized and then permanently funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
“We led a fight with many of our colleagues on this Committee to get permanent funding for LWCF -- to get it reauthorized and permanent funding. In fact, this, if you'll hold that up, is an actual quote from the President of the United States during the big battle,” said Sen. Cantwell.
Sen. Cantwell continued: “I was at the bill signing. I know what it says … It is setting in law the amount of money that should be spent on acquisition. So, when we're talking here this morning, we're all amazed that you seem to be putting forth a budget that is basically saying, ‘I don't want to acquire. I want to actually sell public lands.’
“…It doesn't say sell public lands. It says acquire lands. So, I don't know how you're proposing a budget that basically is going in the opposite direction of what was, let me refresh my memory, 60 sponsors in the Senate, 254 in the House.”
“We'll continue and we'll follow the law,” Sec. Burgum replied. “We shouldn't be confused that two things can happen at the same time. Which is -- and so it's about which lands and which acquisitions because 40% of the LWCF is a pretty small number relative to the scale.”
In 2019, the Dingell Act permanently authorized the LWCF and required no less than 40 percent ($360 million) of the fund be used for federal land acquisition. Following the success of the largest public lands package in a decade, the Great American Outdoors Act guaranteed that the $900 million authorized level would always be fully funded, ending a half century of shortfalls totaling around $22 billion because previously the Congressional appropriations process chose to fund the LWCF below its authorized levels. Both bipartisan, bicameral bills were signed into law during the first Trump Administration. However, while the Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal includes $900 million in mandatory spending as required, the budget proposes to redirect the bulk of the funding away from LWCF federal land acquisition towards deferred maintenance. Specifically, the Trump Administration only wants to spend $45 million towards federal land acquisition, which is a significant reduction and contradicts the legal requirements of the Dingell Act.
“Your budget doesn't say that, and I think it's heading to a catastrophe,” Sen. Cantwell said.
The Dingell Act and Great American Outdoors Act invest billions of dollars to address the maintenance backlog on public lands throughout Washington state and around the country. In addition to permanently authorizing the LWCF, the Dingell Act designated over 1.3 million acres of wilderness, expanded national parks and monuments, and improved access to public lands. In the state of Washington, the Dingell Act removed 340,000 acres of land from mining in the Methow Valley, authorized the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, created the Mountains to Sound Greenway and Maritime Heritage Areas, and designated the National Nordic Museum. The Great American Outdoors Act permanently funded the LWCF at its full authorization level of $900 million per year – roughly two or three times the amount the fund had historically received. Because the funding comes from offshore oil and gas royalties, it does not burden taxpayers or add to the national deficit. Since its creation by Washington Senator Scoop Jackson in 1965, the LWCF has supported more than 42,000 projects in communities throughout the country, including investing more than $725 million in more than 700 projects throughout Washington state.
Sen. Cantwell also pressed Burgum on concerns about the lack of communication and coordination from the Department of Interior and the Forest Service going into wildfire season.
Last week, Sen. Cantwell held a virtual press conference with retired meteorologists representing Washington state, Oklahoma, and Florida to sound the alarm on cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) as the United States heads into peak hurricane and wildfire season – and call on the Trump Administration to restore the agency to full capacity.
“We have a fire in Cle Elum now, and we need direction. We need to know -- my constituents want to know: What are people going to do to help coordinate with Interior and the Forest Service? We need to know now,” said Sen. Cantwell.
*Sen. Cantwell points to the current National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook maps during the hearing*
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks from today’s hearing are available HERE, audio HERE, and a full transcript is HERE.
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