President's Budget Request, Impact on Tourism Communities
Advocacy Opportunities for America 250 Funding | Good Reads
On Friday, the White House released the President’s Budget Request for FY2026, outlining the Administration’s outline for budget spending for the fiscal year that starts October 1, 2025. Overall, the President’s budget request proposes non-defense discretionary funding at $163 billion, 22.6 percent-below current-year spending. At the same time the budget request proposes unprecedented increases for defense and border security. For Defense spending, the President proposes an increase of 13 percent to $1.01 trillion and for Homeland Security, the Budget commits a historic $175 billion investment. More detailed information is expected to be provided later but here are some big impacts to key federal agencies that support tourism communities:
Cutting the National Park Service budget by more than $1 billion and proposes reducing the National Park System by removing parks with low visitation numbers by either turning them over to states or selling the sites.
Cuts nearly $1.4 billion from U.S. Forest Service operations, scaling back federal support for wildfire mitigation, forest health, recreation, forest product research & development, and watershed protection.
Elimination of the Economic Development Administration, which has frequently been used to help tourism communities recover from disasters — both economic and natural.
Reduces U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funding by $721 million and eliminates key programs supporting rural housing, broadband, water systems and public facilities.
Eliminates $3.6 billion in funding for six regional commissions, cutting off place-based federal investment in distressed rural regions, including the Delta Regional Authority, Denali Commission, Southeast Crescent Regional Authority, and the Great Lakes Authority. The Appalachian Regional Commission will be funded at $14 million.
This budget proposal reflects the administration’s priorities but is unlikely to be passed in its current form, it will be the foundation for the budget debate in Congress. It does provide a good overview of the agencies and programs we will need to advocate on behalf of. For those of you who want to dig into the details of the President’s Budget Request, the department by department overview can be read here.
The introduction for the AGRITOURISM Act has been moved to the right, which means there is still time to support the legislation. The bill’s text can be read here. Please let me know if your organization will endorse the legislation.
As Congress considers the President’s Budget Request and begins work on the FY26 appropriations, there are opportunities to speak up on behalf of key federal partners, including:
The American Association for State and Local History has expanded their campaign for robust funding for America 250 through the Institute for Museum and Library Services to the Senate. Attached below is the template letter. The Dear Colleague circulated by Sen. Cramer (R-SD) and Sen. Shaheen (D-NH) and the letter they will send to Appropriations leadership. They have also helpfully produced an email list of the Arts, Culture, and Education legislative assistants for each Senator that can be found here:
On a related note, last week a federal district court judge issued a temporary order blocking the Trump Administration from taking any additional steps to dismantle the Institute for Museum and Library Services. More details are available in the Association Press article that can be read here.
Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA) and Rep. John Larsen (D-CT) are continuing to request signatures to their letter to the House Appropriations Committee leadership calling for funding for America 250. Template letter is attached below.
Good Reads
On Wednesday, The NY Times has a good piece analyzing Has International Travel to the U.S. Really Collapsed? It found outside of Canada, not international visitation remains stable. But Canadian travel is dropping significantly.
A great piece from David Von Drehle in The Washington Post, The magic that happens when unheard voices join the chorus. It focuses on the musical traditions along the Virginia Tennessee border and how they were captured for the first time. Great stories to highlight in 2026 as part of the America 250 celebration.