WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Trump administration released its budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2018. Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement:
“Bold and creative solutions are sorely needed to reform bloated agencies and programs so they better serve the American people. This framework is a positive start. I look forward to building on these ideas through the budget process and our Committee’s work."
Background
* Reduces new major federal land acquisitions and refocuses budget on maintaining and improving existing federal lands
* Increases funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI) programs that support environmentally responsible development of energy on public lands and offshore waters
* Streamlines management operations to support responsible land stewardship in the National Park Service (NPS), Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management
* Uses funds to leverage private investment in federal lands, reducing costs to the taxpayer and creating innovative streams of revenue
* Increases funding for the NPS’s deferred maintenance backlog
* Eliminates unnecessary, lower priority or duplicative programs including discretionary Abandoned Mine Land grants that overlap with existing mandatory grants
* Provides funding for DOI’s U.S. Geological Survey to focus investments in essential science programs
* Eliminates a number of unnecessary programs within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration while codifying their core function in fishery management
Supports tribal sovereignty and self-determination across Indian Country by focusing on core funding and services to support ongoing tribal government operations
