Interior Secretary-designate Ken Salazar will push for more funding for national parks as part of President-elect Obama’s proposed economic recovery package.

“I’ll let those crafting the package understand the importance,” Salazar, a Democratic senator from Colorado, said at his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “If you take the national parks program, for example, we know there’s over $2.5 billion in initiatives and programs ready to go … and I hope to add those in our recovery packages.”

Homeland Security Secretary-designate Janet Napolitano says one of her biggest priorities will be reforming the department’s notoriously fragmented business practices.

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee have released details on an $825 billion proposed stimulus plan that promises to pump tens of billions of dollars into a wide array of federal programs.