2018 Ferguson Fire in Mariposa County near El Portal.  Photo credit: Blake Scott, National Park Service

March 16, 2019 - President Donald Trump released his official budget request for Fiscal 2020 this week.  The $4.7 billion budget includes cuts to the Department of Interior (DOI), U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and across the rest of the executive branch totaling $2.7 trillion over 10 years.  

The budget release grabs headlines every year, but is always dead on arrival in Congress.  President Trump’s budget request includes $12.8 billion to fund the DOI, a 5.2 percent cut from the Fiscal 2019 enacted level of $13.5 billion.  The Administration prioritizes funding within the DOI for more energy and economic development of public lands.  Notably, the budget requests a 2 percent cut in funding for wildfire management on public lands.  The budget would also support the Trump Administration’s longtime goal of relocating the administrative resources of the DOI from Washington D.C. to western states that hold the majority of U.S. federal land acreage.

The Trump Administration released a budget outline this week that highlights the topline funding numbers and policy priorities behind the budget request.  The individual departments are expected to release more in-depth budget requests next week, along with their justification documentation.  House Budget Chair John Yarmuth (D-Kentucky) hopes to begin mark ups on the budget in early April.  The rollout of President Trump’s budget request was considerably delayed by the recent government shutdown.
Source: Rural County Representatives of California