FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2026
democracyrestored.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Democracy Restored strongly supports the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) actions to defund liberal NGOs that have prioritized ideological activism over the public interest.

“The DOI’s decision is a critical step toward ensuring American taxpayer dollars are not abused by blatantly partisan and, in some cases, radical NGOs serving special interests. This is precisely the kind of bureaucratic overreach and misuse of funds our organization has highlighted in past work,” said Democracy Restored Director Houston Keene.

“Democracy Restored applauds this move to redirect funds away from activist organizations and back toward the American people and their elected representatives. By defunding these NGOs, the DOI is restoring fiscal responsibility and ensuring public resources serve the people, not partisan causes.”

Democracy Restored has already highlighted the activities and positions of these and similar organizations:

Following the rushed 2009 Endangerment Finding (pushed through by Obama-era activists to allow EPA regulation of greenhouse gases) Democracy Restored research found the top 75 climate nonprofits saw their government funding explode 267% from roughly $350 million in 2009 to nearly $1.4 billion by 2023. When the Trump administration reversed that finding in February, the same activist network erupted in protest.

Last year, the Trump administration canceled a multimillion-dollar U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) contract with global consulting giant ICF to produce the National Climate Assessment (NCA), long hailed as the “crown jewel” of U.S. climate research. Democracy Restored had repeatedly highlighted ICF’s outsized influence on federal climate policy and its blatant conflict of interest: the firm profits by selling “climate solutions” to clients based on the alarmist narratives it helped shape for the government.

Similarly, groups like the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) have pocketed millions from the EPA’s Office of Environmental Education only to promote political activism rather than neutral scientific literacy.

The leftist legal think tank the Environmental Law Center and its Climate Judiciary Project were allowed to write climate consultation manuals for judges for the Federal Judicial Center before being exposed.

By defunding these kinds of activist organizations, the DOI is working to end the cycle of subsidizing opposition to lawful governance and redirecting resources back to the American people.

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