WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Slams Republican Cuts to EPA, Arts, Parks, and More While Trump Prioritizes Gilded Vanity Projects in DC

This press release from Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) was published on 2026-06-03 and titled "WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Slams Republican Cuts to EPA, Arts, Parks, and More While Trump Prioritizes Gilded Vanity ".

WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Slams Republican Cuts to EPA, Arts, Parks, and More While Trump Prioritizes Gilded Vanity Projects in DC

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, spoke out against Republicans’ funding bill for the 2027 fiscal year during the Appropriations Committee's markup today. In her opening remarks, Pingree condemned proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Park Service (NPS), and the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) and Humanities (NEH). At the same time, the Trump Administration is spending millions of taxpayer dollars on the President’s vanity projects in D.C., Pingree said—including a 250-foot Arch, a $1 billion ballroom, resurfacing the reflecting pool, the so-called “Garden of Heroes”, and more. “How is the President paying for all of these vanity projects? While he might claim private fundraising, the real answer has seemed to be raiding national park entrance fees that typically go toward maintenance and stealing funding from the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities,” Pingree said. Pingree also cited how Trump has destroyed the Kennedy Center over the past 18 months, and said the Committee must take steps to protect the institution. “I’m very pleased with the court’s confirmation last Friday that it’s plainly illegal for him to rename the Center after himself and remake it in his own image,” she said. “But we need real and committed oversight from this Committee to protect this critical institution and the artists, workers, and audiences that make it special." A summary of the bill is available here . Pingree’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are copied below. +++ Thank you for yielding. I would like to thank Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, and the staff on both sides of the aisle. Chairman Simpson, I appreciate our working relationship and that we were able to find common ground last year to enact a bipartisan full-year funding bill. Unfortunately, the bill before us reverts back to the same partisan playbook, with grossly insufficient funding and a surplus of poison pill riders. The bill cuts EPA by 20 percent. This agency has already lost one-fifth of its workforce since President Trump took office. The cuts in this bill would completely cripple EPA’s ability to fight climate change, respond to environmental disasters, and hold polluters accountable. Meanwhile, the administration continues to roll back regulations that protect public health and the environment, including a recent announcement that will increase exposure to toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water. I’m disappointed that the bill further cuts funding to states for water infrastructure. This is the first year that states won’t have the additional funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and I believe that it is critical that we don’t lose the momentum we built with those investments. I’m also very concerned by the cuts to the National Park Service facilities operation and maintenance. This is the funding the Park Service uses to maintain and repair its infrastructure. The bill cuts it by $163 million, or 17 percent. Meanwhile, in the Commerce, Justice, Science funding bill, Republicans have provided up to $152 million to renovate Alcatraz into a functioning prison. I find this completely outrageous. I won’t get into the many reasons why I think trying to reopen Alcatraz is a farce and a waste of money. But I have to say, when I look at that funding and then look at the bill before us today, it’s painfully obvious that the majority is prioritizing resurrecting a 19 th century prison over today’s underfunded and understaffed parks. At the same time, the President is diverting significant resources toward pet projects that most Americans oppose: his ridiculous $1 billion gilded ballroom (from which he dumped the toxic demolition debris on a National Park-owned golf course), approving a no-bid contract to resurface the reflecting pool, forging ahead on his so-called “Garden of Heroes” – all of which he handpicked – and his 20-story tall Triumphal Arch that veterans’ groups have literally sued to block … the list goes on and on. How is the President paying for all of these vanity projects? While he might claim private fundraising, the real answer has seemed to be raiding national park entrance fees that typically go toward maintenance and stealing funding from the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. And speaking of vanity projects, I would be remiss not to mention the absolute mess that the President has made of the Kennedy Center over the past 18 months. I’m very pleased with the court’s confirmation last Friday that it’s plainly illegal for him to rename the Center after himself and remake it in his own image. But we need real and committed oversight from this Committee to protect this critical institution and the artists, workers, and audiences that make it special. So: the President and this administration have spent an inordinate amount of t