The Senate moved one step closer to voting on a package of five bipartisan spending bills Wednesday, but a brewing fight over amendments — including one that could allow for the sale of some national park lands — is threatening to delay action into next year.
Senate Republican leaders resolved all of the remaining GOP objections to the spending package Wednesday, in part by tentatively granting amendment votes to conservatives such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who has concerns about funding levels and specific provisions.
Now, Democrats are reviewing the Republican-approved funding deal and vying for votes on their own amendments — including nearly two dozen on energy or environment issues, from restricting offshore drilling to boosting funding for wildland firefighting.
The flurry of activity in the Senate this week comes after months of stalled negotiations on fiscal 2026 appropriations and just days before lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington for an end-of-year recess.
Appropriators say they want to vote to advance the spending package this week, but disputes over amendments could force leadership to push the vote to January.
“It’s gonna take us a little while,” Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told reporters Wednesday.
The proposed spending package, or minibus, includes five Senate funding bills: Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD. The measures have not been negotiated with the House; leaders are hoping to pass negotiated bills by Jan. 30.
At the heart of the Senate negotiations is an amendment from Lee, the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that would strike four provisions from the Interior-Environment bill.
One of the provisions in Lee’s crosshairs would require the Interior Department to maintain all federal lands in national parks as federal lands and to continue to operate them as such.
National park conservation groups immediately criticized Lee’s proposal, arguing that the removal of that provision would allow the Trump administration to sell off national park lands.
Earlier this year, the Utah Republican tried unsuccessfully to get language into Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act to sell some federally owned lands and enable development. His proposals included exceptions for national parks and monuments.
The National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks urged senators to oppose Lee’s amendment if it gets a floor vote.
“Chairman Lee’s proposal could gut national parks and end the National Park Service as we know it,” Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, said in a statement. “It could destroy more than 150 years of progress in establishing, protecting, and advancing national parks in this country.”
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, vowed to try to defeat the amendment.
“We are staring down another 11th-hour effort that threatens our public lands. This time, it’s in the form of an appropriations amendment that would make it easier to eliminate units of the National Park Service,” Heinrich said in a statement.
He added, “Our answer has to be the same: Public lands belong in public hands and National Parks are America’s best idea. I encourage every American to make their voices heard again. We can and must defeat this.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), ranking member on the Interior-Environment Appropriations Committee, called Lee’s proposal “an assault on treasures that belong to every American” and said he would “keep fighting” to ensure public lands stay public.
Lee’s amendment would also strike a provision allowing the Department of Agriculture to waive certain cost-sharing requirements for some conservation projects.
Additionally, it would eliminate language requiring agencies to notify Congress 45 days before taking actions that would impact the functions of at least 10 percent of their workforce.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chair of the Senate’s Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said she struck a deal with Lee after weeks of negotiations in order to get him to lift his holds and be able to advance the minibus.
“I have had very good, very constructive conversations with Sen. Lee about his concerns,” Murkowski said. “We worked through the issues that he had raised, and I think it’s fair to say we’re in a good place with Sen. Lee.”
Asked about the nature of Lee’s concerns and the concessions she made, Murkowski said, “He had certain issues with regards to what he considered to be authorizations, and so we worked to come to a compatible place for both of us and I think we’re in a good space.”
Lee declined to comment Wednesday when POLITICO’s E&E News asked about his amendment. He said he is “on hiatus” from speaking with outlets affiliated with POLITICO.
Democrats are likely to object to the inclusion of Lee’s amendment, though they could allow it to come up for a vote and fail. Senators on both sides of the aisle teamed up earlier this year to defeat Lee’s push to allow some public land sales.
Lee also has an amendment that would eliminate earmarks in the minibus. The proposal would prevent hundreds of millions of dollars from being directed to lawmakers’ favored projects; it would not cut the funding itself.
Democrats’ energy, enviro amendments
Senate Democrats are plotting a counterproposal to the Republican-backed funding deal that could include multiple of their own amendments on energy and environment issues.
Among the dozens of tweaks Democrats have submitted for consideration in the past 48 hours is a proposal from California Sen. Alex Padilla that would add language prohibiting oil and gas exploration and production off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.
Another Padilla amendment is even more aggressive, blocking drilling across eight planning areas covering the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposals are in response to the Trump administration’s five-year leasing plan, which calls for an increase in offshore drilling, including off the coasts of Alaska, California and Florida.
The Interior Department removed the Atlantic from consideration after lawmakers protested. It kept a proposal to open parts of the eastern Gulf despite opposition from Florida Democratic and Republican Florida lawmakers.
An amendment from Michigan Sen. Gary Peters would reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through fiscal 2027. The program funds projects to fight pollution, invasive species and climate impacts.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced an amendment that would block the Interior Department from implementing part of Secretary Doug Burgum’s September order making changes to the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Shaheen also has amendments requiring NOAA to obligate grant awards “in a timely manner” and requiring the Commerce Department to notify Congress of the termination of large NOAA grants before they are canceled.
Sen. Jack Reed filed a proposal that would require NOAA to maintain at least the same number of full-time employees the agency had at the end of fiscal 2024.
Other amendments from the Rhode Island Democrat propose to rescind the $40 million the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided for President Donald Trump’s “Garden of Heroes” monument and block additional funding for the construction of the monument.
Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Jeff Merkley of Oregon are pushing amendments to support efforts to combat wildland firefighters by waiving overtime pay caps for firefighters or adjusting wildfire funding levels.
Merkley has additional amendments to prevent the closure of federal research and development facilities and to prevent the White House from unilaterally rescinding appropriated dollars.
Reporter Heather Richards contributed.