The U.S. House has voted to pass appropriations legislation funding the Department of Commerce and the Department of the Interior for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.
"Today, the House took another step forward in advancing three more FY26 appropriations bills to President Trump’s desk,” U.S. Representative Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said after the vote. “Through bipartisan, committee-led consensus, we are delivering full-year measures that spend less than current funding, implement critical priorities for our districts, and continue to advance the America First agenda. This was not by accident – it is the result of ending bloated omnibuses, empowering members, and doing the hard work Article I of the Constitution demands.”
The joint legislation combines three massive appropriations bills as Congress works to get the regular government funding process back on track. Lawmakers missed their 1 October deadline to have fiscal year 2026 spending in place, leading to a partial government shutdown that lasted several weeks. The shutdown ultimately ended when legislators agreed to pass a short term spending bill to reopen the government, but lawmakers are now racing to pass several appropriations packages to keep the government open after the short term solution expires at the end of the month.
The bipartisan negotiated bills largely reject massive cuts to NOAA Fisheries and the Environmental Protection Agency proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. The White House had proposed slashing NOAA Fisheries budget by more than 30 percent, but the current appropriations language includes USD 1.12 billion (EUR 955 million) for the agency – roughly in line with fiscal year 2024 funding.
“Some of the biggest proposed cuts to NOAA were to NOAA Fisheries,” Meredith Moore, director of Ocean Conservancy’s fish conservation program, said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries ensures that U.S. fisheries are healthy and well-managed for the benefit of all Americans. Maintaining NOAA’s budget will help ensure that fishing communities and families can continue to enjoy healthy, sustainably caught fish. Without NOAA, we will lose the foundational science and management to keep seafood on Americans’ dinner plates and protect a cornerstone of many local coastal economies – from Maine and Florida to Alaska and California.”
Some Republican representatives expressed frustration with the level of earmark spending in the commerce appropriations bill. Among that spending was more than USD 105 million (EUR 89.9 million) in targeted NOAA spending for projects handpicked by lawmakers, much of which was dedicated to supporting fisheries and aquaculture. House leaders allowed separate votes on the three appropriations sections within the minibus bill to allow Republicans to express dissent with the commerce section’s earmarks, although only 47 ended up doing so after a single earmark for the state of Minnesota was removed. The full package was passed in a vote of 397 to 28.
Leaders in Congress are hoping to have the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills signed into law by 30 January, when the temporary spending bill passed to reopen the government in November is set to expire. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation next week.
