President Proposes $11.7 Billion Budget for Interior in FY2018

Budget saves taxpayers $1.6B and increases funding for National Parks Infrastructure and Responsible Energy Development

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump today proposed an $11.7 billion Fiscal Year 2018 (FY 2018) budget for the Department of the Interior. The President's budget allows Interior to carry out its core mission of responsible multiple-use of public lands in a way that both conserves America’s iconic landscapes and supports responsible resource development. The President’s budget prioritizes public lands infrastructure by increasing funding for National Parks to address their deferred maintenance backlog. The budget also prioritizes responsible American energy production on federal lands and national security. To download highlights of the DOI FY 2018 budget, click this link: https://www.doi.gov/budget/appropriations/2018/highlights 

“President Trump promised the American people he would cut wasteful spending and make the government work for the taxpayer again, and that's exactly what this budget does,” said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. “Working carefully with the President, we identified areas where we could reduce spending and also areas for investment, such as addressing the maintenance backlog in our National Parks and increasing domestic energy production on federal lands. The budget also allows the Department to return to the traditional principles of multiple-use management to include both responsible natural resource development and conservation of special places. Being from the West, I've seen how years of bloated bureaucracy and D.C.-centric policies hurt our rural communities. The President's budget saves taxpayers by focusing program spending, shrinking bureaucracy, and empowering the front lines."   

Additionally, the budget requests $123.9 million of discretionary Department of Defense appropriations to be transferred to the Department of the Interior to support enactment of the 2010 Compact Review Agreement with Palau. The Palau Compact is an important element of the Pacific national security strategy.

"The Territories and Freely Associated States are absolutely critical to the strategic readiness of the United States, and they are part of the fabric of who we are as fellow Americans," said Secretary Zinke. "President Trump's budget proposal makes it abundantly clear that these lands, often on the front lines of escalating tensions, are under our protection and serve vital importance."

The Department of the Interior oversees one-fifth of the nation's land and the entire Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Department is charged with overseeing energy development on federal lands and waters, grazing allotments and timber sales, water conservation and delivery, upholding Tribal trust responsibilities, conservation of wildlife and habitat, and maintaining access for recreation in National Parks and other public lands, among other priorities.

The FY 2018 budget includes the President’s continued focus on the following priorities:

America First Energy: $791 million to power America's future

• Onshore: $189 million (+24M from 2017 CR) with increases to strengthen oil and gas and coal programs by improving the application and permitting processes, and supporting related rights of way.
• Offshore: $343 million (+7M from 2017 CR) includes a $10 million increase to update the Five-Year OCS Oil and Gas Plan. 
• Renewables: $78 million to keep pace with anticipated project interest for renewable energy development.  

American Infrastructure: Investing in Interior's $300 Billion Portfolio 

• $766 million (+$35M from 2017 CR) to address the $11.3 billion deferred maintenance backlog in our National Parks, which accounts for 73% of Interior's $15 billion deferred maintenance backlog. 
• Invests over $1 billion in safe, reliable, and efficient management of water resources throughout the western United States.

$4.4 Billion for America's Land: Increasing access, back to the basics on stewardship 

• Addresses adaptive management challenges and provides $101 million for work on invasive species. 
• Directs funds to maintain the lands we have, rather than purchasing land we cannot afford. 
• Includes $90 million in mandatory funds to support Land and Water Conservation Fund State Grants.

Legislative Priorities: Saving Taxpayers $5.8 Billion 

• Reforms Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act payments.
• Opens the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for development.
• Cancels a portion of Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act balances.
• >Reauthorizes Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act.
• Reauthorizes the Recreation Fee Program.