Republican Lawmakers Send to Full House a Proposed EPA Budget that Continues More than a Decade of Reductions
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted late on Tuesday in favor of a budget for EPA with a 7 percent cut next year, which is less than the 31 percent cut proposed by President Trump, but would still force buyouts and weaken environmental protections.
The 30-21 vote by the committee sent to the full House a proposed $7.5 billion budget for EPA next year, which would be $528 million below the current year, reducing critical staff and scientific expertise at the agency.
“These unnecessary, ideologically-driven cuts won’t save taxpayers a penny – when balanced against other budget increases the Trump Administration is seeking – while forcing Americans to swallow more polluted air and water,” said Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project and former Director of Civil Enforcement at EPA.
“While it is good that House lawmakers have rejected the even more draconian 31 percent cut to EPA proposed by the Trump Administration, what the committee has endorsed is yet more hobbling of an agency that has faced reductions to its staff and budget for more than a decade,” Schaeffer said.
Within the House budget proposal for EPA, funding for enforcement would be cut by 15 percent below this year. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is finding additional money to add 10 more staff to EPA Administrator Pruitt’s personal security detail.
Also in the House’s bill, funds for the Great Lakes Restoration program would receive level funding for next year ($300 million, compared to the zero proposed by President Trump). Funding for the Puget Sound cleanup would drop by 11 percent (from $28 million to $25 million). Support for EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Restoration program would be cut by 18 percent, from $73 million to $60 million.
“For the first time in decades, the Chesapeake Bay cleanup has been showing real progress the last seven years, since EPA became more involved in 2010 by setting pollution limits,” said Schaeffer. “It would be illogical to now slash funding for this successful program by $13 million, as the House Appropriations Committee is now proposing. Yes, that would be far better than the zero funding suggested by the Trump Administration. But I don’t believe the great Chesapeake Bay deserves a bar set so low. Progress in the bay deserves more support than this.”
The number of full-time positions at EPA has already declined 16 percent since the Clinton Administration, falling from 18,388 in fiscal 1999 to 15,376 in fiscal 2016, according to EPA figures. Contrary to assertions by Congressional Republicans, the Obama Administration shrank the agency, trimming its workforce by about 12.5 percent, more than any other president since the EPA’s founding in 1970.
Taking inflation into account, EPA’s budget has shrunk by about 22 percent since it averaged a high of $10.49 billion in 2001-2004 during George W. Bush’s first term (using FY 2016 equivalent dollars), falling to $8.1 billion in the current fiscal year.
For more details on the EPA budget history, visit: https://environmentalintegrity.org/trump-watch-epa/trumps-proposed-cuts-to-epa-budget/
For the committee’s report on the bill, visit: https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23918.pdf
For the full text of the House bill, visit: https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy18_interior_xml.pdf
The Environmental Integrity Project is a 15-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, based in Washington D.C., dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Tom Pelton, Environmental Integrity Project (202) 888-2703 or tpelton@environmentalintegrity.org
