Statement by Secretary Haaland on the President’s FY22 Discretionary Funding Request

Identifies Resources to Strengthen Tribal Nations, Promote Racial Justice and Equity, and Create Jobs in a Clean Energy Economy 

04/09/2021
Last edited 04/09/2021

Date: Friday, April 9, 2021 
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris Administration today submitted to Congress the President’s priorities for fiscal year 2022 discretionary spending.

The funding request advances key Interior Department priorities, including honoring our government-to-government relationships with Tribal Nations, addressing racial inequity, and tackling the climate crisis. The request also follows the passage of the American Rescue Plan, the historic relief package that contains several provisions that fund Interior initiatives and benefit the communities we directly serve.

“As our country faces the interlocking challenges of a global pandemic, economic downturn, racial injustice, and the climate crisis, Interior is committed to an all-of-government approach to build back better,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.  “President Biden’s funding request provides much-needed resources to Tribal Nations, prioritizes racial justice and equity, and invests in healthy lands, waters, and a clean energy economy that will create good-paying jobs.”

The FY 2022 discretionary request includes the President’s commitment to the following priorities:

  • Honoring Our Commitments to Tribal Nations. Strengthening the nation-to-nation relationship with Tribal Nations is a top priority for the Biden administration. The discretionary request provides $4 billion, more than $600 million over the 2021 enacted level, to fund a range of Interior Tribal programs, including for teachers and students in Tribal schools, clean energy development, and Tribal law enforcement and court programs to improve safety. These investments will directly enhance the educational opportunities of over 46,000 K-12 students in Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools, support the effective management of the 56 million acres of lands held in trust for the benefit of Tribal Nations – the largest land trust in the world – and strengthen self-determination and self-governance programs to bolster Tribal sovereignty. These investments will also complement the American Rescue Plan’s substantial investments in Indian Country, as well as other investments in the discretionary request, to support and strengthen Tribal communities.
  • Promoting Racial Justice and Equity for Underserved Communities. The discretionary request will embed environmental justice and racial equity goals into programs across the Department, with discrete investments in key areas. For example, the request includes an additional $20 million to expand access to the over 70 national park units that preserve and tell the story of historically underrepresented and marginalized groups, and to increase support to local and state efforts to preserve sites that document the struggle for equal opportunity. The investments also include funding for a voting rights center that honors the legacy of Civil Rights leaders, including that of the late Representative John Lewis, at the Selma Interpretive Center.
  • Tackling the Climate Crisis, Including Addressing Climate Impacts on Public Lands. The Administration is taking decisive action to address the existential threat of climate change. The discretionary request provides an additional $550 million over 2021 enacted levels to decrease climate pollution, accelerate clean energy deployment, and expand efforts around climate adaptation and ecosystem resilience among all the Department’s land management agencies. These investments will directly benefit Americans by helping to limit climate-induced disruptions, including for coastal communities, the outdoor recreation economy, and people whose lives and livelihoods are intertwined with Interior-managed lands and resources.
  • These discretionary investments reflect only one element of the President’s broader agenda. In the coming months, the Administration will release the President’s Budget, which will present a unified, comprehensive plan to address the overlapping crises we face in a fiscally and economically responsible way.

For more information, see The President’s FY 2022 Discretionary Request.

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    04/11/2025

    This Week at Interior April 11, 2025

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    Transcript:

    (MUSIC BEGINS)


    This Week at Interior

    President Trump this week signed Executive Orders aimed at achieving the Administration's goal of American Energy Dominance with a renewed focus on coal. One of the orders directs Interior to identify untapped coal resources on federal lands, while removing barriers to mining and leasing.

    The value of untapped coal in our country is one hundred times greater than the value of all the gold at Fort Knox, and we're going to unleash it and make America rich and powerful again.

    To advance the President Trump's order, Interior will implement a series of policy moves and regulatory reforms to position coal as a cornerstone of the nation’s energy strategy by ensuring federally managed lands remain open and accessible for responsible energy development. Secretary Burgum likened the actions to creating a new Golden Age of "Mine, Baby, Mine," saying that  

    Interior is unlocking America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development to make life more affordable for every American family while showing the world the power of America’s natural resources and innovation.  

    Among the actions are ending the moratorium on federal coal leasing, reopening federal lands in Montana and Wyoming to coal leasing, removing regulatory burdens for coal mines, and providing royalty rate relief.  

    Interior this week announced the disbursement of more than $13 million in grants to support the reclamation of abandoned mine lands, furthering the Trump administration’s commitment to American Energy Dominance, environmental stewardship and economic renewal in coal communities. The funding is administered through the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and it will support job creation and economic revitalization efforts in North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.  

    Interior this week announced the release of updated oil and gas reserve estimates for the Gulf of America's Outer Continental Shelf. The new data and analysis over the last couple of years reveal an additional 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent since 2021, bringing the total reserve estimate to 7.04 billion barrels of oil equivalent. That figure includes 5.77 billion barrels of oil and 7.15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced plans to significantly increase oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf, and just last week Secretary Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to hold the first Gulf of America oil and gas lease sale since its renaming in February.

    Secretary Burgum held his first All Hands meeting this week at Interior's historic Yates Auditorium. The Secretary saluted the notable accomplishments the Department has achieved in making the transition from the previous administration, and expanded on his vision that innovation, rather than regulation, is the cornerstone of American prosperity.

    The thing that has led our country for 250 years is innovation, doesn't matter whether it's the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution our ability to innovate in a way that allowed us to win World War One and World War II and lead the world and become the world leader, all of it was innovation based, and we have to get back to those roots. That's how we win. That's how America wins in this world, that's how we win again for our children and our children's children, is we win with innovation.

    U.S. Geological Survey crews were deployed late last week and this week to monitor flood impacts after storms dumped heavy rain across portions of the southeast and Midwest. Crews are still hard at work gathering flood measurements in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio, as well as West Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, where as much as ten inches of rain fell causing massive flooding. The gages provide information for the National Weather Service to predict when dangerous flooding might occur and allow for warnings to vulnerable residents, as flood crests will continue into early May.

    And our social media Picture of the Week, California's Battery Point Lighthouse. Perched on California's rugged northern coast, this historic beacon stands among the rocky outcrops of the California Coastal National Monument and has guided mariners since its first lighting in 1856.

    Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X! That's This Week at Interior!


    (MUSIC ENDS)

     

    News and headlines from Interior April 11, 2025

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