House appropriators spared one of the nation’s most successful watershed restoration projects from the deepest cuts proposed by the Trump administration, holding level funding for core elements of the 40-year-old Chesapeake Bay Program.
But the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation said fiscal 2026 legislation still fails to reflect the bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for restoring the Bay watershed, arguing the House bill’s “devastating budget cuts” undermine the federal government’s participation in the decades-long effort.
“It will be up to the Senate Appropriations Committee to address these glaring deficiencies and match, if not exceed, the bay restoration funding levels … when it takes up its version later this week,” Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Policy Director Keisha Sedlacek said in a statement.
EPA would receive $92 million for its Chesapeake Bay Program under the House Interior-Environment bill, level with the Trump administration budget proposal.
