Forty-One Senators Push to Keep Harmful Environmental Riders Out of Appropriations Bills

Senators warn that inclusion of poison pills harming the environment would undermine Senate's ability to pass bipartisan spending bills

Washington, D.C. - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works; Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; and 39 of their colleagues have sent a letter urging Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) to keep harmful anti-environment policy provisions out of FY2027 appropriations bills. These policy "riders" typically make changes to laws that would otherwise not withstand the scrutiny of regular-order congressional debate and would not advance without being attached to must-pass measures like appropriations bills.

"Anti-environment poison pills are giveaways to the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the health and financial wellbeing of the American people. They have no place in bipartisan spending deals," said Whitehouse.

"Harmful anti-environment policy riders are poison pills that will sabotage funding the government. As the Ranking Member of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, I've worked hard to keep these riders out. It's an important principle to preserve," said Merkley.

Several of the House Republicans' partisan spending bills have included riders aimed at weakening safeguards for air, water, and federal lands.

The letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Edward Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jackie Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The Senators' letter is available here.