Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum no doubt stunned some on Capitol Hill this week as he explained why his agency is cutting some federal programs.
“We found organizations that were receiving grants from Interior, where 80 to 100 percent of the revenue of that NGO was a grant from the federal government.” “And yet those organizations, we were the sole source of their revenue, but they would have a CEO making $650,000 and four $400,000 lobbyists!”
By NGO, he was referring to organizations that received large funding from the federal government, i.e. the Interior Department. Burgum told the House Appropriations Committee hearing that in some cases, the non-governmental organizations received up to 100% of their revenue from the federal government.
His answer came on a question from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, the committee’s ranking member, who wanted Burgum to clarify his proposed “complete elimination” of some programs in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service including some state and tribal wildlife grants.
Burgum did not go on to identify some of the NGOs that have the highly paid CEOs.
Congress rejected the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the National Park Service for fiscal 2026 and went so far as to include language to make Burgum give advanced notice to any major reorganization or significant cuts to its workforce. The National Park Service lost about 25% of its workforce last year.
Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Tom Cole is chairman of the Appropriations Committee and in his opening statement supported Burgum and his steps.
“Over the past year, this White House has worked with urgency to remake the federal bureaucracy and rebalance America’s natural resource policies. Cutting red tape fuels opportunity and enhances our competitiveness,” said Cole.
“To that end, I appreciate Secretary Burgum’s efforts to implement strategic reforms at the Department of the Interior. ”
Democrats on the committee didn’t support Burgum’s plans and were critical of the administration’s approach to energy production. They accused Burgum and his agency of kowtowing to oil and gas interests at the expense of renewable energy, as reported by NewsFromTheStates.com.
“The last administration said ‘all of the above’ and then there were a set of rules that were completely punitive against the stuff that we needed to actually, you know, have baseload power in this country,” he said about Biden’s oil and gas policy. “It was just too early. It was too premature to say we’re going to shut all that down and we’re going to transition.”
Democrats argued Burgum was doing the same thing by subsidizing fossil fuels while discouraging solar and wind power.
“Shortly after taking office, the White House moved quickly to halt offshore wind development and took steps to rein in solar and wind projects,” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said. “Why? Why are we kneecapping industries that create jobs, expand our energy supply and help address the climate crisis? Because this administration’s energy policy is based on political grievance, ideological hostility and, of course, propping up big oil and gas.”