{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6783", "WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Slams Republican Cuts to EPA, Arts, Parks, and More While Trump Prioritizes Gilded Vanity Projects in DC", "2026-06-03", "2026", "2026-06", "Democrat", "House", "ME", "Chellie Pingree", "P000597", "pingree.house.gov", "pingree", "https://pingree.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, spoke out against Republicans\u2019 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\u2019s vanity projects in D.C., Pingree said\u2014including a 250-foot Arch, a $1 billion ballroom, resurfacing the reflecting pool, the so-called \u201cGarden of Heroes\u201d, and more.\n\n\u201cHow 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,\u201d Pingree said.\n\nPingree 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.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m very pleased with the court\u2019s confirmation last Friday that it\u2019s plainly illegal for him to rename the Center after himself and remake it in his own image,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we need real and committed oversight from this Committee to protect this critical institution and the artists, workers, and audiences that make it special.\"\n\nA summary of the bill is available here.\n\nPingree\u2019s full remarks as prepared for delivery are copied below.\n\n+++\n\nThank you for yielding.\n\nI would like to thank Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, and the staff on both sides of the aisle.\n\nChairman 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.\n\nUnfortunately, the bill before us reverts back to the same partisan playbook, with grossly insufficient funding and a surplus of poison pill riders.\n\nThe 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\u2019s 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 \u201cforever chemicals\u201d in drinking water.\n\nI\u2019m disappointed that the bill further cuts funding to states for water infrastructure. This is the first year that states won\u2019t have the additional funding provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and I believe that it is critical that we don\u2019t lose the momentum we built with those investments.\n\nI\u2019m 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.\n\nMeanwhile, in the Commerce, Justice, Science funding bill, Republicans have provided up to $152 million to renovate Alcatraz into a functioning prison.\n\nI find this completely outrageous. I won\u2019t 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\u2019s painfully obvious that the majority is prioritizing resurrecting a 19th century prison over today\u2019s underfunded and understaffed parks.\n\nAt 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 \u201cGarden of Heroes\u201d \u2013 all of which he handpicked \u2013 and his 20-story tall Triumphal Arch that veterans\u2019 groups have literally sued to block \u2026 the list goes on and on.\n\nHow 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.\n\nAnd 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\u2019m very pleased with the court\u2019s confirmation last Friday that it\u2019s 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.\n\nSo: the President and this administration have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to dictate exactly what it deems artistically and culturally worthy \u2013 and at the same time, it\u2019s trying to rob our communities of funding for our own local museums, historical societies, and arts education programs by cutting the NEA and NEH. I am vehemently opposed to this bill slashing each endowment by 35%, $72 million.\n\nThe bill also cuts funding for cultural institutions, such as the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. Last year, we came to an agreement and beat back these cuts. We must do so again this year.\n\nWhile the administration is focused on building a gilded ballroom and a triumphal Arch to appease the president\u2019s ego, Americans are facing soaring gas and energy prices. Yet this bill does nothing to reign in the administration\u2019s assault on energy projects that states have been counting on.\n\nAs the administration spends nearly 2 billion in taxpayer dollars to pay off companies for abandoning offshore wind projects, this bill piles on \u2013 adding additional fees for offshore wind companies and drastically cutting funding for renewable energy programs.\n\nFinally, I have to express my opposition to the dozens of poison pill riders included in the bill. These riders aim to cripple environmental protection, undermine climate change policies, and override the Endangered Species Act.\n\nAs written, I cannot support the bill before us today.\n\nI oppose the bill, I urge my colleagues to oppose it, and I yield back.\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-05T06:35:23Z", "2026-06-05T06:36:42Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6783"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.870916061103344, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}