A coalition of nearly 40 Democrats is pressing Senate appropriators to block President Trump’s proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s fiscal 2018 budget.
The group of 37 senators sent a letter late Tuesday warning that Trump’s proposed 31 percent cut to the EPA’s budget will hurt state-level efforts to keep their air and water clean, and their infrastructure up to date.
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“President Trump’s FY2018 budget blueprint would simply eviscerate the EPA’s core functions and adversely impact state budgets that rely on EPA grants for environmental remediation,” the letter said, pointing out Trump’s Feb. 28 address to Congress where the president pledged to “promote clean air and water.”
The Democrats explained that Trump’s pledge “is meaningless when the President follows it by proposing a 31 percent cut to the EPA’s budget and a 20 percent reduction in its staff,” according to the letter. “If enacted, this funding cut would effectively eliminate the EPA’s ability to execute its core mission to protect public health and ensure citizens have clean air, clean water, and are protected from hazardous waste and contaminants.”
Most of the problems the Democrats raised with the Senate’s appropriations leadership have to do with EPA’s clean air and water infrastructure grants that many states rely on to construct important projects to deliver safe drinking water while maintaining cleaner air. They also cited cuts to EPA’s climate program and programs to protect the Great Lakes and other major waterways important to many states’ livelihoods.
The letter pointed out that Trump’s proposed elimination of the Energy Star program to improve appliance efficiency would raise costs for consumers. The program saved consumers more than $34 billion in utility bills in 2015, and over $430 billion since it started in 1992, the letter read.
The budget proposal would also eliminate the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, “which allows the EPA to evaluate impacts to human health from chemical exposure,” according to the letter. It would also cut funding for Superfund sites by 30 percent, “making it harder to clean up and reclaim contaminated and polluted sites across the country,” the letter read.
“This is not the vision of the EPA that Americans support,” it read. “We must ensure that vital public health and environment protections are maintained and funded. We urge you to oppose these drastic and dangerous cuts, and support continued funding for the EPA in the FY2017 and FY2018 appropriations process.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, took the lead in sending the letter, which also included Tim Kaine of Virginia, Tom Carper of Delaware, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Al Franken of Minnesota, and others.
No Republicans signed onto the letter, although many like Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, raised a number of concerns about Trump’s budget cuts, including for EPA’s water grant program. She said that despite her support for the president’s defense agenda, she could not support the broad range of cuts to EPA, the Energy Department and other agencies she oversees.
“Over the past several years, we have already made significant progress streamlining agencies like the EPA while retaining funding for its core mission and functions, particularly basic infrastructure,” said Murkowski, responding to Trump’s March 16 budget blueprint outlining drastic cuts to programs that support basic infrastructure needs.
In addition to being chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is expected to play a pivotal role in Trump’s infrastructure plan, Murkowski also chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee’s interior and environment panel and serves on the energy and water panel, which will be key to balancing Trump’s energy and environment budgets with what she and others believe need to be maintained priorities.
She supports the president’s focus on defense, as Alaska will be at the forefront of the nation’s missile defense, but “I cannot support many of the proposed cuts in this ‘skinny’ budget,” she said. The programs “are critical to the health, welfare and safety of Alaskans, especially those in our remote, rural communities,” she said.
The budget proposal would significantly curtail the Energy Department’s weatherization and other programs used to help disadvantaged residents heat and insulate their homes.
“We need to remember that these programs are not the primary drivers of our debt, and to look at the full budget to find the best ways to reduce federal spending,” she explained.
The Democrats’ letter comes amid a number of green groups launching campaigns to prod lawmakers not to approve Trump’s budget.
A number of large firms like GE and Johnson Controls signed onto a letter with advocacy groups looking to ensure the Energy Star program, in particular, is maintained. Others focused more broadly on defending the EPA budget as a whole.
