Last week, the U.S. Senate passed three 2026 funding bills, which included provisions authored by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Gluesenkamp Perez was able to secure key Southwest Washington priorities in these bills, which now head to the president’s desk to be signed into law, her office stated in a news release.
“When Congress gets its act together and works in a bipartisan way, we get legislation like this that delivers solutions tailored to our communities’ needs and values,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure that Southwest Washington’s priorities — from supporting our salmon and steelhead populations, to having our local law enforcement’s back, to bringing down energy costs — were represented in these bills, and I’ll keep plugging away to make sure that Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are being invested in an effective, durable, and responsible way.”
A list of bipartisan provisions led by Gluesenkamp Perez broken out by individual bill can be found below:
• Sea Lion Removal: Gluesenkamp Perez authored a provision in this bill that directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in consultation with state and tribal partners, to study better removal methods for the sea lions — including more efficient direct-kill methods.
• Ensuring Community Chaplains Can Access Federal Resources: Community chaplains provide counseling to law enforcement officers and victims of crimes. Gluesenkamp Perez has met with local chaplains in Southwest Washington and included a provision in this bill that affirms that they can access federal funding for law enforcement mental health as appropriate by law, a news release from Gluesenkamp Perez stated.
• Controlling Burrowing Shrimp Populations: Gluesenkamp Perez wrote a provision that pushes for NOAA to study control methods for excess populations of burrowing shrimp that damage bottom culture oyster beds in the Willapa Bay.
• Supporting Corrections Officers’ Mental Health: There are high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide among correctional officers, according to the release. Gluesenkamp Perez secured language in this bill that encourages the Bureau of Prisons to work with their employees to determine what systemic practices should be instituted to improve mental health outcomes.
• Resources for Salmon and Steelhead Recovery: The bill includes $4 million for Mitchell Act Hatcheries, which help support salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia River Basin, and $65,000,000 for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.
• Lowering Costs for Manufactured Homeowners: Traditional means of energy efficiency for manufactured housing like skirting and awning are effective means of lowering costs for residents. Gluesenkamp Perez authored a provision in this bill that encourages the Department of Energy to prioritize grants available within the Weatherization Assistance Program for those tools, the release stated.
• Bolstering Local Search and Rescue Operations: When people get into trouble on federal lands, the often costly work of search and rescue operations falls to local law enforcement. Gluesenkamp Perez’s provision requires the Department of the Interior to brief the committee on existing funding streams that could potentially be used and expanded to help local departments offset the costs of these operations.
