To amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to reauthorize the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System.

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Bill ID: 119/hr/3176
Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

ID: B001323

Follow the money

The bill

To amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to reauthorize the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System.

HR. 3176, 119th Congress.

The sponsor

Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$71,235 raised

20 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

60% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Introduction" section, p. 566-568 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

December 15, 2025

Introduced

Committee Review

Floor Action

Passed House

Senate Review

📍 Current Status

Next: Both chambers must agree on the same version of the bill.

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another thrilling episode of "Congressional Theater" brought to you by the esteemed members of the 119th Congress. Today's feature presentation is HR 3176, a bill that will surely leave you on the edge of your seat with its electrifying title: "To amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to reauthorize the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System."

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The main purpose of this bill is to reauthorize a program that was already authorized in 2019. Because, you know, the previous authorization just wasn't good enough. It's like they're trying to treat a patient with a Band-Aid when what they really need is a tourniquet. The objective here is to make it seem like Congress is doing something useful while actually accomplishing nothing.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill makes two changes to the existing law:

1. It replaces "United States Geological Survey" with "Secretary" in paragraph (1) of Section 5001(c). Wow, what a bold move! I'm sure this will have far-reaching consequences for the nation. 2. It updates the funding authorization from "$470,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2024" to "$470,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029." Ah, yes, because the real issue here was that the previous funding wasn't sufficiently futuristic.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The affected parties include:

* The Secretary (whoever that is) * The United States Geological Survey (which is now apparently redundant) * The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (because who doesn't love a good acronym?) * And, of course, the American people, who will be treated to another round of "Congressional Theater" while their actual problems remain unaddressed.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** The potential impact of this bill is zero. Zilch. Nada. It's a placebo, folks! But hey, at least it'll make the politicians feel good about themselves. As for implications, well, let's just say that if this is the best Congress can do, we're in trouble.

Diagnosis: This bill is suffering from a severe case of "Legislative Lethargy," a disease characterized by a complete lack of ambition or meaningful action. The symptoms include unnecessary reauthorizations, trivial changes to existing law, and a general sense of apathy towards the actual problems facing the nation.

Treatment: A healthy dose of skepticism, a strong stomach for bureaucratic nonsense, and a willingness to call out politicians on their empty promises. But let's be real, folks, this bill is just a symptom of a larger disease – the disease of Congressional incompetence.

Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$71,235
16 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$0
Committees
$0
Individuals
$71,235

No PAC contributions found

No organization contributions found

No committee contributions found

1
ODOM, WILLIAM L
2 transactions
$10,000
2
GERONDALE, CHRISTOPHER
2 transactions
$6,600
3
SCHWARZMAN, CHRISTINE
2 transactions
$6,600
4
SCHWARZMAN, STEPHEN
2 transactions
$6,600
5
LOKEN, TYLER
1 transaction
$5,000
6
FOX, RICHARD
1 transaction
$3,435
7
MCNAMARA, MICHAEL
1 transaction
$3,300
8
FORSYTHE, GERALD R
1 transaction
$3,300
9
HILLMAN, TATNALL LEA
1 transaction
$3,300
10
HUFFMAN, JEREMY
1 transaction
$3,300
11
LETTS, JIM
1 transaction
$3,300
12
SPOKELY, KATHERINE
1 transaction
$3,300
13
TAYLOR, MARGARETTA J
1 transaction
$3,300
14
ANTONSEN, HANS
1 transaction
$3,300
15
ANTONSEN, LAURA
1 transaction
$3,300
16
BABCOCK, KRISTIE
1 transaction
$3,300

Data from FEC bulk files • 2024 election cycle

Donor Network - Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

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Showing 30 nodes and 20 connections (38 secondary connections hidden)

Total contributions: $71,235

Top Donors - Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large]

Showing top 16 donors by contribution amount

16 Individuals

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.

Introduction

Moderate60.0%
Pages: 566-568

— 533 — Department of the Interior order to fulfill the yet-unaltered congressional mandate contained in federal law, to provide for jobs and well-paying employment opportunities in rural Oregon, and to ameliorate the effects of wildfires, the new Administration must immedi- ately fulfill its responsibilities and manage the O&C lands for “permanent forest production” to ensure that the timber is “sold, cut, and removed.”79 NEPA Reforms. Congress never intended for the National Environmental Policy Act to grow into the tree-killing, project-dooming, decade-spanning mon- strosity that it has become. Instead, in 1970, Congress intended a short, succinct, timely presentation of information regarding major federal action that signifi- cantly affects the quality of the human environment so that decisionmakers can make informed decisions to benefit the American people. The Trump Administration adopted common-sense NEPA reform that must be restored immediately. Meanwhile, DOI should reinstate the secretarial orders adopted by the Trump Administration, such as placing time and page limits on NEPA documents and setting forth—on page one—the costs of the document itself. Meanwhile, the new Administration should call upon Congress to reform NEPA to meet its original goal. Consideration should be given, for example, to eliminat- ing judicial review of the adequacy of NEPA documents or the rectitude of NEPA decisions. This would allow Congress to engage in effective oversight of federal agencies when prudent. Settlement Transparency. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt required DOI to prominently display and provide open access to any and all litigation settlements into which DOI or its agencies entered, and any attorneys’ fees paid for ending the litigation.80 Biden’s DOI, aware that the settlements into which it planned to enter and the attorneys’ fees it was likely to pay would cause controversy, ended this policy.81 A new Administration should reinstate it. The Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act was intended to bring endangered and threatened species back from the brink of extinction and, when appropriate, to restore real habitat critical to the survival of the spe- cies. The act’s success rate, however, is dismal. Its greatest deficiency, according to one renowned expert, is “conflict of interest.”82 Specifically, the work of the Fish and Wildlife Service is the product of “species cartels” afflicted with group- think, confirmation bias, and a common desire to preserve the prestige, power, and appropriations of the agency that pays or employs them. For example, in one highly influential sage-grouse monograph, 41 percent of the authors were federal workers. The editor, a federal bureaucrat, had authored one-third of the paper.83 Meaningful reform of the Endangered Species Act requires that Congress take action to restore its original purpose and end its use to seize private prop- erty, prevent economic development, and interfere with the rights of states over their wildlife populations. In the meantime, a new Administration should take the following immediate action: — 534 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l Delist the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystems and defend to the Supreme Court of the United States the agency’s fact-based decision to do so.84 l Delist the gray wolf in the lower 48 states in light of its full recovery under the ESA.85 l Cede to western states jurisdiction over the greater sage-grouse, recognizing the on-the-ground expertise of states and preventing use of the sage-grouse to interfere with public access to public land and economic activity. l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to end its abuse of Section 10(j) of the ESA by re-introducing so-called “experiment species” populations into areas that no longer qualify as habitat and lie outside the historic ranges of those species, which brings with it the full weight of the ESA in areas previously without federal government oversight.86 l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to design and implement an impartial conservation triage program by prioritizing the allocation of limited resources to maximize conservation returns, relative to the conservation goals, under a constrained budget.87 l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to make all data used in ESA decisions available to the public, with limited or no exceptions, to fulfill the public’s right to know and to prevent the agency’s previous opaque decision-making. l Abolish the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey and obtain necessary scientific research about species of concern from universities via competitive requests for proposals. l Direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to: (1) design and implement an Endangered Species Act program that ensures independent decision- making by ending reliance on so-called species specialists who have obvious self-interest, ideological bias, and land-use agendas; and (2) ensure conformity with the Information Quality Act.88 Office of Surface Mining. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) was created by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA)89 to administer programs for controlling the impacts of surface coal mining operations. Although the coal industry is contracting, coal constitutes

Introduction

Moderate60.0%
Pages: 566-568

— 533 — Department of the Interior order to fulfill the yet-unaltered congressional mandate contained in federal law, to provide for jobs and well-paying employment opportunities in rural Oregon, and to ameliorate the effects of wildfires, the new Administration must immedi- ately fulfill its responsibilities and manage the O&C lands for “permanent forest production” to ensure that the timber is “sold, cut, and removed.”79 NEPA Reforms. Congress never intended for the National Environmental Policy Act to grow into the tree-killing, project-dooming, decade-spanning mon- strosity that it has become. Instead, in 1970, Congress intended a short, succinct, timely presentation of information regarding major federal action that signifi- cantly affects the quality of the human environment so that decisionmakers can make informed decisions to benefit the American people. The Trump Administration adopted common-sense NEPA reform that must be restored immediately. Meanwhile, DOI should reinstate the secretarial orders adopted by the Trump Administration, such as placing time and page limits on NEPA documents and setting forth—on page one—the costs of the document itself. Meanwhile, the new Administration should call upon Congress to reform NEPA to meet its original goal. Consideration should be given, for example, to eliminat- ing judicial review of the adequacy of NEPA documents or the rectitude of NEPA decisions. This would allow Congress to engage in effective oversight of federal agencies when prudent. Settlement Transparency. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt required DOI to prominently display and provide open access to any and all litigation settlements into which DOI or its agencies entered, and any attorneys’ fees paid for ending the litigation.80 Biden’s DOI, aware that the settlements into which it planned to enter and the attorneys’ fees it was likely to pay would cause controversy, ended this policy.81 A new Administration should reinstate it. The Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act was intended to bring endangered and threatened species back from the brink of extinction and, when appropriate, to restore real habitat critical to the survival of the spe- cies. The act’s success rate, however, is dismal. Its greatest deficiency, according to one renowned expert, is “conflict of interest.”82 Specifically, the work of the Fish and Wildlife Service is the product of “species cartels” afflicted with group- think, confirmation bias, and a common desire to preserve the prestige, power, and appropriations of the agency that pays or employs them. For example, in one highly influential sage-grouse monograph, 41 percent of the authors were federal workers. The editor, a federal bureaucrat, had authored one-third of the paper.83 Meaningful reform of the Endangered Species Act requires that Congress take action to restore its original purpose and end its use to seize private prop- erty, prevent economic development, and interfere with the rights of states over their wildlife populations. In the meantime, a new Administration should take the following immediate action:

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.

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