Press Briefing: Doug Burgum Speaks to Reporters Outside the White House - November 3, 2026

Hey, everybody.

Can we have you right here, Mr. Secretary?

The question was a message to voters?

From the Interior Department.

From the Interior Department? Uh, well, we did have a great announcement just -- we had a great announcement last week, uh, under President Trump's, uh, energy policies. We, uh, we sent 21 plus billion dollars back to the American public, uh, because of how we're sustainably managing the resources on public lands.

And, and, of course, that goes back to states; it goes back to tribes; it goes down to counties and school districts, can pay for roads, pay for schools, pay for everything. Uh, and this is a, uh, second highest, uh, in history, you know, as we're ramping back up after four years of revenue decline during the prior administration.

So that's exciting to see because I think when people understand that the public land belongs to the public and when we manage this incredible asset that -- the assets that we have. Uh, some of these assets like national parks, it's preserve and protect. But when we're talking about 500 million acres of public land for grazing, for timber, for mining, you know, for energy production, all of those things not only benefit our national security, but they can go back and benefit local communities and local, local school districts.

And so it's exciting to see President Trump's, uh, in, in action. And then, of course, you saw some of the GDP numbers; you saw, uh, the manufacturing numbers. Uh, not a surprise to me, uh, because I, you know, along with the rest of the administration, uh, just in the last month, uh, I, I, I don't want to say I've lost track, but, um, we've been traveling every week to three or four different states a week on Department of Interior business, uh, getting out and particularly in this case to the western half of the U.S. and up to Alaska.

But there is a, uh -- when you, when we have the lowest-price natural gas in the world, I mean, it never gets reported by anyone. Please, could someone write a story? Uh, natural gas is the fastest-growing source of electricity, uh, in the world. It's the, it's the -- what we use to make fertilizer. Uh, it's what you use to power a manufacturing plant.

And three bucks here. It hit $32 in Japan last week for the same one million BTUs of natural gas. And, and in Europe, uh, it's been regularly above $26. We have places in America, unfortunately, including New England, where, where people have spent their energy blocking pipelines, blocking transmission lines, uh, for, for whatever reason they think that they're, you know, saving the planet by, by us not using American-made clean energy here.

Uh, when they're doing that, uh, they also have prices in some cases that are over 20 bucks, you know, in New England. When it's $3 in Pennsylvania also. Pennsylvania producing about -- over 20% of our nation's natural gas right now. So, if you say, "Why are manufacturing companies coming back?" It's not all about the tariffs.

If you're going to build a manufacturing plant, you're talking about a commitment of the next 10 to 20 years of capital. And you want to know that if you build it there and the future of manufacturing is going to be more electricity, the future of distribution and warehouses, more electricity when there's more automation, more robotics, larger-scale things.

You know, you're going to go to the place where you can have low electricity prices, and the U.S. is going to have the lowest energy prices for generations to come because of President Trump's energy dominance strategy. So anyway, I'm super optimistic about, uh, you know, the future of the country and where it's going, and I think we're going to see more positive economic news like this, uh, in the years ahead because the groundwork has been laid.

[Crosstalk]

Mr. Secretary, why, why did the president choose to give his final address before the midterms at the Reflecting Pool?

Well, I think it's simple, and it's, uh -- if the question, question was why the Reflecting Pool and why President Trump yesterday. But President Trump, when we came -- he was here for four years, then was gone for four years, then he's back again. And when he came back, all of you were here probably living in the city.

And what you saw 20 months ago when we got back here was graffiti everywhere, fountains not working, uh, 163 homeless encampments that were, that we helped relocate all of those people in need from those locations, but not living in a public space. We said, "You're welcome to come every day, but you can't live here.

Let us help you find a place where you can live. No one wrote a story on that. We, we relocated and helped get people connected with services, but we built those parks. And then when they, when they were gone, the graffiti was gone, the grass was new, the fountain was fixed, the monuments were polished. All of that started with President Trump, because he said, "If we're going to have the greatest country in the world, why wouldn't we have the greatest capital in the world and have the safest capital?" The National Mall is, is one of our national parks.

The National Mall has over 40 million visitors a year and it's free. And of course, standing in that historic spot where President Trump was standing yesterday, where you've got the Washington Monument, uh, which reflects the founding of our country in the 250 years ago, and then the Lincoln Memorial, which represents the president that saved the Union from falling apart.

And in between, the, the pool itself, the Reflecting Pool that reflects those two endpoints, is also built at the same time and part of the Lincoln Memorial. So, it's a perfect spot to basically say to America that just like closing the border was a choice, just like, you know, cutting taxes was a choice, just like cutting regulations a choice.

It's a -- Americans do not have to accept decline and squalor in our major cities. You can choose to have a beautiful and clean city. Any mayor and any governor could do what President Trump did here in Washington, D.C. It's a role model for the country. That's why he chose to do it here.

[Crosstalk]

I have to go to a 3:00 meeting in the White House, so thank you guys.

Are you watching the results tonight?

I'll be at the White House. Thank you.

Watch party?