Further deep budget cuts will hurt economy, Interior secretary says

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A woman in Washington reads a message indicating that the HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace Internet site has too much traffic to continue enrollment after the White House’s deadline to have the site working for a majority of users. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama leaves the room after speaking during the White House Youth Summit. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama turns around to respond to a man who was heckling him about anti-deportation policies. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) arrives for a press conference after the Senate passed the “nuclear option” on filibusters. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie celebrates his election victory in Asbury Park, N.J. (Mel Evans / Associated Press)

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Kathryn Burkholder, 6, of Newport News, Va., can’t stay awake during a speech by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli during a rally in Richmond, Va. (Steve Helber / Associated Press)

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Newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio waves to the crowd at his election night party in Brooklyn. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli poses with a cardboard cutout of Virginia House of Delegates candidate Buddy Fowler while greeting voters in Mechanicsville, Va. Cuccinelli lost. Fowler won. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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President Obama assists a woman who became dizzy during his remarks in the White House Rose Garden about the error-plagued launch of the Affordable Care Act’s online enrollment. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president of CGI Federal; Andrew Slavitt, group executive vice president for Optum/QSSI; Lynn Spellecy, corporate counsel for Equifax Workforce Solutions; and John Lau, program director for Serco, from left, are sworn in at a hearing on implementation of the Affordable Care Act before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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President Obama sits with House Speaker John A. Boehner during memorial service for former House Speaker Tom S. Foley. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) talks with reporters before attending the weekly Senate Republican Caucus policy luncheon at the Capitol. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “stand your ground” laws. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speak after President Obama delivered a speech about the troubled debut of the Affordable Care Act’s online enrollment. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Speaker of the House John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) pumps his fist after leaving a meeting of House Republicans. Congress voted Oct. 16 to end a 16-day government shutdown and allow the Treasury to continue borrowing to pay the nation’s bills. President Obama signed the budget deal shortly thereafter. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who railed against any government funding for federal healthcare, answers questions from members of the media after meeting with Republican senators. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), at a news conference, look at a display of the time left until a government shutdown. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)

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Reporters check their smartphones while waiting outside House Speaker John A. Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office at the Capitol before the government shutdown. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, during talks about intervention in the Syrian conflict. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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Anti-war demonstrators protest against U.S. intervention in Syria in front of the White House. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, chains his hands with Vietnam’s Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh, right, and Thailand’s Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. (Vincent Thian / Associated Press)

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President Obama reacts to a missed putt on the first green at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, Mass., during the Obama family vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)

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Army Pvt. Bradley Manning is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., before a sentencing hearing in his court martial. After the hearing, Manning announced a desire to be called Chelsea from now on and to be considered a woman. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

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Georgia Republican state legislators Mandi Ballinger, center, Terry Rogers, left, and Rick Jasperse, right, throw up paper from their desks at the conclusion of the legislative session in the House chamber in Atlanta. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks in a surprise appearance during the daily press briefing at the White House about the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

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Former New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner during a candidate forum on small business in New York. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

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Kris Perry, left, kisses Sandy Stier as they are married at City Hall in San Francisco in June after a federal appeals court cleared the way for the state of California to immediately resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after a 4-1/2-year freeze. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive to board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on their way to Boston to mourn victims of the deadly Boston Marathon attacks. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

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From left, President Obama and former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

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Former President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with his son, former President George W. Bush, during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

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President Obama looks to see if it is still raining as a Marine holds an umbrella for him during his joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House. (Charles Dharapak / Associated Press)

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President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner during a ceremony to dedicate a statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks on Capitol Hill. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama take to the dance floor during the Commander-in-Chief Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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President Obama takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the company of First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha in the Blue Room of the White House. (Larry Downing / Los Angeles Times)

By Evan Halper

July 29, 2013 11:02 AM PT

WASHINGTON -- Officials from the Obama administration are taking their case against proposed deep budget cuts advancing in Congress to the public, warning that they would hurt the economy and inhibit the government’s ability to enforce popular laws.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell on Monday described some of the proposed cuts to conservation programs as irrational. She said through land leases, fees and other receipts, her department brings in more revenue than it spends each year and the changes proposed by Republicans in the House could upend that.

“The Department of the Interior is an outstanding investment to the American taxpayer,” she said in a call with reporters. “Interior is one of the few agencies that generates more than it spends.”

The GOP plans, she said, would reduce the department’s funding back to the level it was at in 2002. “These reductions are short sighted and could have immeasurable economic consequences,” she said.

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The Republican proposal has been approved by a congressional subcommittee. It is widely expected to be blunted in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. The divide between the houses is so deep that another protracted fiscal standoff seems likely.

Jewell made her remarks as the department released its economic report for last year. In the report, Interior claims to have contributed $371 billion in economic activity and supported 2.3 million jobs.

The secretary then went through several popular programs she said would be endangered by the budget actions advancing in the House, including funding for offshore energy development and safety programs, renewable power, and clean water research. The measure, she said, would eliminate funding altogether for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides matching grants to states and local governments to acquire new parks.

“We can measure the cost of these proposed cuts in very real terms,” she said. “We are talking about lost jobs and lost opportunities.”

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evan.halper@latimes.com