Hill Heat

On Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold a hearing titled “The Federal Reclamation Program’s Next Century.”

Hearing memo

Witnesses:

Panel One

• Scott Cameron, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, on behalf of Bureau of Reclamation

Panel Two

• Samantha Barncastle, Executive Director, Family Farm Alliance, Las Cruces, New Mexico
• Shivaji Deshmukh, General Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
• Jennifer Patrick, Project Manager, Milk River Joint Board of Control, Havre, Montana
• J. Scott Petersen, Director of Water Policy, San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, Los Banos, California

Since its establishment in 1902, Reclamation has built major infrastructure across the western U.S., making up more than three-quarters of the Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) total constructed assets. Its inventory features 348 reservoirs, 480 dams, 58 hydroelectric power plants, and approximately 10,000 miles of canals, providing irrigation to 10 million acres of farmland and producing over 44 billion kilowatt-hours of energy annually.

Executive Business Meeting to report the Reconciliation Bill Pursuant to S.Con.Res.33.

The following sections, from the Homeland Security Committee, were reported out at the meeting.

• Sec. 101. $9.55 billion for CBP personnel through September 2029
• Sec. 102 $7.45 billion for ICE-HSI personnel, of which $108.5 million are for child exploitation investigators through September 2029
• Sec 103 $3.45 billion for CBP equipment and mission support and operations and maintenance
• Sec 104 $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2026 for the above purposes

The Judiciary Committee title was not marked up in committee. The publicly released version of the Judiciary title adds:

• $3.47 billion for CBP personnel
• $30.725 billion for ICE personnel and equipment
• $2.5 billion for fiscal year 2026 for the above purposes
• $1.457 billion for DOJ-National Security Division on terrorism, DEA, U.S. Marshals, U.S. attorneys, FBI, National Fraud Enforcement Division, Criminal Division and Executive Office for Immigration Review for immigration, and for local reimbursements
• $1 billion for the East Wing ballroom

The ballroom provision is not expected to be included in the manager’s amendment on the Senate floor.

Violations of the Byrd rule are expected to be handled with a manager’s amendment on the Senate floor.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witness:

• Sean Duffy, Secretary, Department of Transportation

• Budget

• Detailed budget

The FY 2027 President’s Budget requests $114.1 billion in budgetary resources for the Department of Transportation (DOT), including $26.8 billion in discretionary budget authority and $87.3 billion in mandatory budget authority.

From the American Public Transportation Association:

The budget requests $16.3 billion (-23 percent) for public transit and $2.8 billion (-82 percent) for passenger rail in FY 2027.

The budget does not request to continue any advance appropriations under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which results in substantial cuts to key public transit and passenger rail investments, including:

• Capital Investment Grants (-$1.6 billion)
• Low or No Emission Competitive Grants (-$1.05 billion)
• State of Good Repair grants (-$950 million)
• All Station Accessibility Program (-$350 million)
• Ferry Competitive Grants (-$250 million)
• Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grants (-$7.2 billion)
• Railroad Crossing Elimination Grants (-$500 million)

The hearing will examine Department of Defense policies, programs, and activities in the Greater Middle East and Africa in preparation for the FY27 NDAA.

Witnesses:

• Daniel Zimmerman, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense
• Admiral Brad Cooper, USN, Commander, U.S. Central Command
• General Dagvin Anderson, USAF, Commander, U.S. Africa Command

Business meeting to consider reconciliation recommendations to the Budget Committee.

Backed on a party-line vote 8-5.

Subcommittee markup.

Subcommittee mark

Jurisdiction:

• Department of Defense – Civil
  • Army Corps of Engineers – Civil (budget request)
• Department of Energy (including the National Nuclear Security Administration, Bonneville Power Administration, Southeastern Power Administration, Southwestern Power Administration, Western Area Power Administration, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) (budget request)
• Department of the Interior
  • Bureau of Reclamation ([budget request) Central Utah Project
• Related Agencies
  • Appalachian Regional Commission
  • Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
  • Delta Regional Authority
  • Denali Commission
  • Great Lakes Authority
  • Northern Border Regional Commission
  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission (budget request)
  • Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
  • Southeast Crescent Regional Commission
  • Southwest Border Regional Commission
  • Tennessee Valley Authority (budget request)

You’ve probably heard how bad the so-called “Fix Our Forests Act” (FOFA) is — the 10,000-acre logging projects that can proceed with zero environmental review, for starters. But buried in the bill is another provision that would functionally eliminate Endangered Species Act, Wilderness, Roadless Area, NFMA, and NEPA protections for any logging project on Forest Service or BLM lands.

Join us — Wilderness Watch and John Muir Project — on Thursday, May 14th at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET to learn what’s in this provision, how it works, and what you can do to stop it.

FOFA has already passed the House and cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee. Large chunks have also been stuffed into the recently House-passed Farm Bill.

RSVP

On Thursday, May 14, 2026, at 10:30 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources will meet to consider:

• H.R. 741 (Rep. Stanton), “Stronger Engagement for Indian Health Needs Act of 2025”
• H.R. 3924 (Rep. Neguse), “Wildfire Risk Evaluation Act”
• H.R. 5694 (Rep. Begich), “Alaska’s Right To Ivory Sales and Tradition Act” or the “ARTIST Act”
• H.R. 7250 (Rep. Downing), To reauthorize the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System Act of 2000.
• H.R. 7487 (Rep. Boebert), “Rural Jobs and Hydropower Expansion Act”, amends the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 to authorize hydropower development across all Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) facilities and gives oversight to USBR instead of FERC, cosponsored by Adam Gray (D-Calif.)
• H.R. 7831 (Rep. Kennedy of UT), “License to Drill Act”

Any proposed amendments should be emailed to Sophia Varnasidis ([email protected]) no later than 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.

If you need further information, please call Madeline Kelley, Director of Member Services, or Sophia Varnasidis, Director of Legislative Operations, Committee on Natural Resources at (202) 225-2761.

Subcommittee hearing.

Witness:

• Edward Forst, Administrator, General Services Administration

The House Appropriations markup was April 22.

The House bill provides $9.74 billion for the General Services Administration’s Federal Buildings Fund, which is $49 million above the FY26 enacted level.

• $983 million for repairs and alterations.
• $166 million for construction.
• $193 million for the Asset Proceeds and Space Management Fund.

Administrative Provisions

• Provides that funds made available for activities of the Federal Buildings Fund may be transferred between appropriations with advance approval of the Committees on Appropriations of the House and the Senate.
• Requires funds proposed for developing courthouse construction requests to meet appropriate standards and the priorities of the Judicial Conference.
• Provides that no funds may be used to increase the amount of occupiable square feet, provide cleaning services, security enhancements, or any other service usually provided, to any agency which does not pay the assessed rent.
• Permits GSA to pay small claims (up to $250,000) made against the Federal Government.
• Requires the Administrator to ensure that the delineated area of procurement for all lease agreements is identical to the delineated area included in the prospectus unless prior notice is given to the committees of jurisdiction.
• Requires a spending plan for certain accounts and programs.

Full committee markup.

• Full Committee mark
• Report
• Subcommittee mark
• Summary

The House proposes funding NSF at $7 billion, a 20% cut. The House proposes a budget of roughly $6 billion for the NASA Science Mission Directorate — an 18% cut. The House is recommending a total NOAA budget of $5.85 billion — a roughly 5% cut, including $4.07 billion for NOAA’s Operations, Research, and Facilities account, an 11% cut. Under the House proposal, NIST would receive around $1 billion, a $160 million cut from its 2026 budget.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Scientific and Technical Research and Services – $725 million is provided for NIST research and measurement science programs outside of community projects, $119 million below fiscal year 2026 and $4 million below the fiscal year 2027 request.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – $5.9 billion is provided, resulting in an increase of $214 million to procurement, acquisition, and construction programs, and a reduction of $214 million to operations, research, and facilities programs, outside of community projects.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – $24.4 billion is provided, equal to the fiscal year 2026 enacted level and $5.6 billion above the fiscal year 2027 request. The bill includes significant cuts to NASA’s science, aeronautics, and education initiatives.

• Science – $6 billion, $1.3 billion below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level and $2.1 billion above the fiscal year 2027 request.
• STEM Engagement programs – $84 million, $59 million below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level. The bill terminates two of NASA’s four STEM initiatives.

National Science Foundation (NSF) – $7 billion, a decrease of $1.8 billion below the fiscal year 2026 enacted level and $3 billion above the fiscal year 2027 request, for efforts to support basic scientific research, cutting-edge technology development, and STEM education.