2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Interior official Karen Budd-Falen worked on federal grazing rules benefiting her family's ranches despite a signed recusal

On May 9, 2026, The Washington Post reported that Karen Budd-Falen, the Interior Department's third-ranking official, had acknowledged working on relaxed federal grazing regulations — including a categorical exclusion easing grazing-permit approvals — that benefit her family's cattle operations and federal grazing allotments across roughly a quarter-million acres of Bureau of Land Management land. Budd-Falen had signed a 2018 recusal from grazing matters, but the Interior Department issued her an ethics waiver on March 11, 2026 permitting her to work on matters affecting her financial interests. The watchdog Campaign for Accountability and congressional Democrats asked Interior's Inspector General and congressional committees to investigate the conflict.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On May 9, 2026, The Washington Post reported that Karen Budd-Falen, the Associate Deputy Secretary and third-ranking official at the U.S. Department of the Interior, had acknowledged personally working on relaxed federal public-lands grazing regulations that benefit her family's ranching operations. The changes she worked on include a categorical exclusion making it easier for ranchers to obtain grazing permits. At a December 2025 Senate Western Caucus event she stated that grazing regulations were "probably the closest to my heart," describing herself as a rancher.

Budd-Falen and her husband hold financial interests in multiple Wyoming and Nevada cattle operations and federal grazing allotments spanning roughly a quarter-million acres of Bureau of Land Management land. When she joined the Interior Department she signed a recusal, dated November 5, 2018, pledging to step aside from grazing matters and the department's grazing-permit process for the duration of her appointment. The Interior Department issued her an ethics waiver on March 11, 2026 — the same day journalists inquired about her grazing work — permitting her to participate in particular matters that could have a direct and predictable effect on her financial interests.

The watchdog group Campaign for Accountability and congressional Democrats asked congressional committees and Interior's Inspector General to investigate the conflict of interest. Reporting by High Country News further documented that Budd-Falen worked on National Environmental Policy Act reforms affecting grazing approvals and on a Point Reyes National Seashore grazing dispute.

Why we recorded this

Public office is a public trust: officials must not use government power to enrich themselves or act on matters affecting their own financial interests. The Interior Department's third-ranking official worked on federal grazing rules that benefit her family's ranching operations and federal grazing permits, after the department waived a recusal she had signed for exactly those matters. This archive records when an official uses public authority in areas where she holds an undisclosed or unresolved financial stake.

Sources

  1. Watchdog urges probe into Interior appointee's ranching ties — The Washington Post primary accessed July 14, 2026
  2. In major reversal, Interior allows top official with close industry ties to work on grazing policy — High Country News investigative accessed July 14, 2026
  3. Interior appointee admits conflict of interest on grazing policy — Center for Western Priorities secondary accessed July 14, 2026

See also