January 5, 2026

Senator Murray Statement on Release of Three-Bill Minibus

Package of funding bills rejects draconian cuts and policies pushed by President Trump, House Republicans—and reasserts congressional control over key funding decisions

Democrats protect program to lower families’ energy bills, key investments in scientific research, and much more

Washington, D.C. — Today, top appropriators in the Senate and House released text of three bicameral, bipartisan fiscal year appropriations bills: the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development; and Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bills.

In a statement, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said:

“While President Trump has pushed to slash and even outright defund programs that help families get by, Democrats fought to protect investments that matter most to working and middle-class families in every part of the country.

“Democrats defeated heartless cuts that would have increased Americans’ costs and extreme proposals that would have jeopardized people’s safety and enshrined backwards policies in law for years to come.

“President Trump sought to raise Americans’ energy bills even more by eliminating a key savings program—but Democrats saved it and secured more funding to help lower families’ costs.

“This package rejects President Trump’s push to let our competitors do laps around us by slashing federal funding for scientific research by upwards of 50% and killing thousands of good jobs in the process. It protects essential funding for our public lands, rejects steep proposed cuts to public safety grants that keep our communities safe, and boosts funding for key flood mitigation projects.

“Importantly, passing these bills will help ensure that Congress, not President Trump and Russ Vought, decides how taxpayer dollars are spent—by once again providing hundreds of detailed spending directives and reasserting congressional control over these incredibly important spending decisions. It is so important we pass full-year funding bills again and refuse to cede power to this administration, and I hope that Republicans will work with us to do that as we pass the remainder of our funding bills.

“As I’ve made clear all year, Democrats stand ready to support funding bills that protect our investments in working families and the programs they count on most.”

Throughout negotiations, Democrats fought to protect the programs and investments that matter most to working families across the country.

Among much else, the three-bill package delivers important investments for the American people:

FAMILIES’ ENERGY COSTS: Rejects President Trump’s push to eliminate the Weatherization Assistance Program that saves families an average of $372 per year on their energy bills by making energy efficiency upgrades. Instead, Democrats secured a $3 million increase in funding for the program.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: Rejects President Trump’s efforts to slash funding for the National Science Foundation by 57%, gut funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science by $1.1 billion, and slash NASA’s science budget by 47%. Instead, the package sustains research funding for NSF, provides $160 million more for the Office of Science, which supports critical research being conducted by 22,000 researchers at our 17 national labs and over 300 universities, and provides $7.25 billion for NASA’s science budget.
PUBLIC LANDS & NATIONAL PARKS: Rejects President Trump’s push to cut funding for the National Park Service by over $1 billion and provides the funding necessary to fully support longstanding operations of America’s public lands.
FLOOD PREVENTION: Provides $10.44 billion for the Army Corps, a historic funding level, rejects President Trump’s push to cut funding by $2 billion, and reasserts congressional control over which projects get funded and how much funding they receive.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: Provides $7 million more for grant programs administered by the Office of Violence Against Women, rejecting President Trump’s efforts to cut over $200 million in funding for the office, which provides grants to communities nationwide to help survivors of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: Rejects President Trump’s push to slash funding for the EPA—providing $4.7 billion above his request. Also rejects extreme riders that would enshrine detrimental policies in law.
TRIBES: Delivers essential funding to support Tribes and our treaty obligations to them—rejecting President Trump’s push to slash funding for Tribes by nearly $1 billion.
REASSERTS CONGRESSIONAL CONTROL: Prevents President Trump and his cabinet secretaries from unilaterally deciding how to spend taxpayer dollars. Right now, the Trump administration has significantly more discretion to decide how to allocate federal funding thanks to Republicans’ yearlong continuing resolution for fiscal year 2025, which failed to provide detailed funding directives for hundreds of programs and turned over decision-making power to the executive branch to fill in the gaps itself. This package provides detailed directives about how funds are to be spent—just as Congress has long done when writing full-year appropriations bills—so that Congress, and not the executive branch, decides how taxpayer dollars are spent.
REJECTS EXTREME REPUBLICAN RIDERS: Rejects scores of extreme riders and proposals included in House Republicans’ draft bills—and many more sought by President Trump in his budget request.