Posted on 02/27/2017 5:16:40 PM PST by jazusamo
The Trump administration plans to propose a one-forth to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, a plan that would end up laying off 20 percent of the agency’s staffers, according to reports.
Trump officials will propose a $6.1 billion for the EPA next year, a $2 billion cut from current levels, according to reports in E&E News and Politico , citing sources.
The agency’s staffing levels would fall to 12,000 workers, from 15,000 currently, according to the reports.
An EPA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.
The proposed spending levels at the EPA come on the day the White House sent spending blueprints to federal agencies ahead of a budget rollout next month. Trump is planning a $54 billion cut in domestic discretionary spending, which would then be used to increase spending for the Defense Department.
The Trump administration has said it plans to target EPA climate programs expanded under President Obama. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt this weekend that he would work to end several regulatory efforts that the agency has in the works.
If the EPA cuts were realized, the agency’s budget would be at its lowest level since the early 1990s, and its staffing levels would be lower than any time since the 1980s.
It’s unclear if Congress will be willing to accept cuts as deep as those Trump is set to propose for the EPA.
The House Appropriations Committee in 2015 sought to cut the agency’s funding by $718 million, an amount far smaller than the White House will propose.
Environmentalists on Monday slammed proposed deep cuts to the agency, indicating a major push from greens and advocacy groups to keep EPA funding as intact as possible. Democrats are also likely to oppose the effort.
Not much of a cut for such a useless agency. Why did Richard M. Nixon try to appease the left with the EPA? It didn’t work for him.
Keep Ivanka’s hands OFF this!
12,000 workers!!!
BUILD THAT POND ! ..... BUILD THAT POND ! ..... BUILD THAT POND !
As I type this, panicky EPA drones are frantically preparing estimates of the number of children who will die because of these cuts.
Cut by 40-50%.
Using his CRA of the WOTUS act, he can shave 1000 employees right there, and they were the ones most likely weaponized.
The 24% cut would likely coincide with those hired after 2008, putting Q EPA back to its ‘normal’ mission.
EPA and DEC are only just two teats on the same boar...
Should cut 90% of it.
Please note I agree with you.
It may not be possible to get more cuts than this through though.
A 24% reduction in budget may equal a huge difference in the amount of meddling simply because most of those cuts would come from personnel.
Take what is possible.
No doubt about it and the Rats will be saying exactly that in the House and Senate.
Chuckie and San Fran Nan will have Rats believing they’ll be on life support should this pass.
Man, that’s a lot of dead baby polar bears. Don’t think of it as catastrophic species annihilation, think of it as really cool auto upholstery.
Bump!
It’s a good cut if he cuts the same amount next year, and the year after that.
...until there is no more EPA... !!!
LOL! Cold, but I like it.
Expand the license lottery for Nauga season and it's a new millennium for car lovers.
Sounds very moderate, measured and prudent.
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