oil
Wild horses and burros get $144 million in BLM funding
Representative Mike Simpson’s Interior spending bill gives the Bureau of Land Management $1.21 billion overall and keeps most of that money available through 2028. It also directs separate maintenance money and lets permit fees help with drilling applications.
The bill would give the Bureau of Land Management $1.21 billion, with $144 million set aside for wild horses and burros. It also includes maintenance money and uses some permit-fee revenue for oil and gas drilling paperwork.
- BLM would get $1.21 billion for lands and resources work.
- $144 million is reserved for wild horses and burros.
- Most of the main account would stay available through Sept. 30, 2028.
- The bill also sets aside $42.4 million for maintenance.
- Permit-fee money could help process oil and gas drilling applications.
The Interior spending bill would give the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, $1,212,095,000 to manage federal lands and resources. Inside that number is a line item that matters far beyond budget tables: $144,000,000 for the agency’s wild horse and burro program. The main account would remain available through Sept. 30, 2028, which means the money would not vanish at the end of the fiscal year.
The operating money behind public lands
BLM’s lands-and-resources account is built for the unglamorous work that keeps public lands functional. It covers land protection, use, improvement, development and disposal, along with surveying, classification, easements and other land interests. The account also supports general bureau administration and work to assess mineral potential. In other words, this is the money behind the maps, records and approvals that make the system run.
The bill would also direct $42,379,000 to annual maintenance and deferred maintenance programs. That separate pot is for upkeep, repairs and catch-up work, the kind that can keep problems from piling up across a vast public-lands system.
Permits and horse care
The wild horse and burro money would stay available until spent, giving the program a longer runway than a single budget year. That makes it one of the clearest commitments in the bill, because it sets aside a dedicated pool for an obligation the agency has been carrying for years.
The measure also says BLM permit-fee funds may be used for bureau expenses tied to processing oil and gas applications for permits to drill and related authorizations. That ties fee revenue directly to the administrative work behind energy permitting, not just to the broader land-management account.