Building Bipartisan Support in Congress for Clean, Safe Beaches

June beckons warmer weather, longer days, and the much-anticipated summer season. Children celebrate as they walk out of their school buildings for the last time and head to the beach with their families. In fact, more than 100 million beachgoers flock to U.S. beaches every year to enjoy the sand, sunshine, and water. Not only do our beaches provide an opportunity for adventure or relaxation (depending on your inclination) but they are also the foundation of valuable coastal tourism and ocean recreation industries that sustain 2.5 million jobs nationwide and contribute $240 billion in gross domestic product to the national economy each year.

Unfortunately, President Trump’s administration just released their budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the next fiscal year (FY2026) and it proposes to completely eliminate all funding for the program that was established to protect public health at the beach. Since the passage of the BEACH Act of 2000, Congress has appropriated approximately $10 million dollars annually for the EPA’s BEACH Grants program. These federal grants help support beach water quality monitoring and public notification programs in 35 coastal states, tribes, and territories. With these funds, coastal states are testing 3,500 beaches nationwide and notifying the public of pollution events so they can make informed decisions on where it’s safe to swim. Many states depend entirely on their federal beach grants to pay for their beach water quality monitoring programs. Eliminating this program could leave families completely blind to pollution issues at American beaches and risk the valuable tourism economies in coastal states that depend on public confidence in safe, clean beaches. 

Surfrider’s national network of volunteers and advocates has really activated around this issue this year — meeting with their federal leaders in Washington, D.C., during our 9th Annual Coastal Recreation Hill Day to ask Congress to push back on the Administration’s proposed budget cuts and keep EPA’s BEACH Act Grants program funded. Fortunately, clean water and safe beaches has proven to be a bipartisan issue over and over again, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle were willing to show their support for continued funding for this critical public health program. 

Surfrider's Florida Policy Manager, Katie Bauman, and a team of Surfrider volunteers virtually meet with staff from Representative Dunn's office (FL-2) to discuss the BEACH Act and other federal priorities during the 9th Annual Coastal Recreation Hill Day.

Led by Representative Pallone (D, NJ) and Representative Dunn (R, FL), 63 House offices signed a letter requesting that the House Appropriations Subcommittee for the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies allocate robust funding for this program in the FY26 budget (see House letter here). Senator Wyden led a similar effort in the Senate with 20 offices requesting a slight increase in funding of $15 million for EPA’s Beach Grants program (Senate letter here). This small boost in support could help states fill in some of the seasonal gaps that exist currently in their beach programs to better protect public health at more beaches and for longer sampling seasons.  

Surfrider really appreciates the leadership of these Senators and Members of the House of Representatives to help protect clean water and healthy beaches for us all to enjoy. No one should get sick from spending a day at the beach. Unfortunately, with a total agency budget cut of 55% proposed by the President’s budget, there are many other important programs at EPA that are on the chopping block — programs that we rely on to ensure that our communities are protected from pollution and to implement solutions to restore clean water.

Please join us in calling on Congress to reject the administration’s proposal and instead ensure that the EPA has the staffing and financial support it needs to enforce environmental safeguards that protect our environment, economy, and, most importantly, our families’ health.

Click here to email your elected members of Congress.