Today, Members of the Committee from both sides of the aisle raised numerous concerns about the President’s 2017 fiscal year budget proposal for the Department of the Interior (DOI) during an oversight hearing with DOI Secretary Sally Jewell.

Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) issued the following statement:

“I am pleased that this budget will be President Obama’s last, because it’s the same old, same old. It’s not about helping people. It’s just another multi-billion dollar budget without any creative solutions to solve problems. I’m not surprised the President wants to gobble up more land—despite massive maintenance backlogs and increasing catastrophic wildfires. Local communities deserve to be empowered to be better stewards of their natural resources, not a $20 billion dollar bill to taxpayers to fulfill the far left’s policy fantasies.”

Vice Chairwoman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) confronted Jewell about DOI regulations destroying her home state of Wyoming.

“You are destroying my state’s economy. The manner in which this Administration has treated my state is absolutely deplorable. Half of Wyoming is controlled by the DOI and their policies are destroying families, jobs, and the ability to earn an income. These policies are absolutely geared towards killing coal, limiting oil and gas production on federal lands, and diminishing the revenues available from those lands, which hurts my state more than any other state.”

Click here to view the full witness testimony.