06/10/2026 at 10:00AM
On Wednesday, June 10, at 10:00 a.m., U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, will hold a hearing examining the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) proposed budget for fiscal year 2027.
Witness:
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Brian Nesvik, Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The FY2027 funding request includes no discretionary appropriations for five FWS accounts: Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, National Wildlife Refuge Fund, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, Multinational Species Conservation Fund, and State and Tribal Wildlife Grants.
The Resource Management account has historically comprised the majority (88% in FY2026) of the FWS annual discretionary appropriation. For FY2027, the Administration request of $1.30 billion is $147.9 million less (-10%) than the FY2026 enacted level for this account.
The FY2027 requested amount for FWS’s Ecological Services activity reflects a $150.4 million increase (54%) from the FY2026 enacted level. This increase is due, in part, to $178.0 million in funding requested for the proposed transfer of Endangered Species Act- and Marine Mammal Protection Act-related work from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to FWS.
For FY2026, Congress appropriated $199.0 million for seven other FWS accounts (i.e., non-Resource Management). These accounts support construction, conservation, financial and technical assistance, and revenue sharing, among other activities (Table 1). For FY2027, the Administration requested $13.7 million for the Construction account (-7% from FY2026) and $10.0 million for the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund (-80% from FY2026). The Administration did not request funding for the other five accounts, citing varying reasons. They included that the funding was duplicative (in the case of the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund) and being reserved for domestic species (in the case of the Multinational Species Conservation Fund and Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund).
Among other proposals, the FY2027 Administration request proposed to prioritize funding to expand visitor services and access in the National Wildlife Refuge System; improve law enforcement officer retention; and expedite environmental reviews for energy, mineral, and timber projects. The FY2027 request also expressed support for Congress to reauthorize the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (54 U.S.C. § 200402) to help FWS (and other agencies) address deferred maintenance. The FY2027 Administration request included some proposals that were previously submitted in the FY2026 request and not enacted by Congress in FY2026. One such proposal seeks to consolidate work of FWS’s Ecological Services program and NMFS’s Office of Protected Resources regarding the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act. Functions transferred from NMFS would be situated in a new Marine Functions subactivity within the FWS Ecological Services program. The Administration stated that this consolidation is intended to reduce redundancies, improve species recovery outcomes, and streamline permitting activities. The FY2027 Administration request is $188.0 million above the FY2026 Administration request. Much of the difference ($178.0 million) is associated with the FY2027 proposal to move certain NMFS functions to FWS. The FY2026 request proposed a similar transfer of functions, but did not specify an associated increase in funding. For FY2026, Congress provided $511.2 million (45%) above the amount requested by the Administration ($1.14 billion) for FWS. Congress did not enact FY2026 Administration proposals to eliminate funding for any FWS discretionary appropriations accounts.
In response to staff reductions implemented by the Trump Administration, in P.L. 119-74, Congress directed FWS to maintain staffing levels in order to fulfill the agency’s statutory responsibilities and implement programs in a timely manner. For FY2027, FWS seeks to continue to restructure the agency’s workforce, as a part of the Administration’s broader actions to reduce the size of the federal workforce. The Administration proposed to reduce the total FWS employee count from 6,513 for FY2026 to 5,861 for FY2027 (a reduction of 10%).
The 2027 budget request for FWS is $1.3 billion. In total, FWS estimates the budget request will support 6,295 full-time equivalents (FTE). The budget includes resources and authorities to transfer the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Office of Protected Resources and associated Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) implementation responsibilities into FWS.
The 2027 budget increases funding to reduce environmental review timeframes for fossil-fuel projects under the ESA.