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The Trump administration has proposed a 55% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) $9 billion budget, although Congress is considering less drastic cuts. Critics argue that this could vastly undermine the agency’s ability to protect public health, particularly if an appropriations bill for next year’s budget passes with these cuts. The House has proposed a 23% cut, while the Senate is aiming for a 5% cut, with the latter’s proposal receiving praise from the Environmental Protection Network for maintaining critical capacity for science, health, and safety.
Drastic Cuts to EPA Budget Threatens Public Health, Warns Environmental Protection Network
The Environmental Protection Network (EPN), a collection of former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees, warns that potential budget cuts to the agency could have serious public health implications. This situation marks a significant deviation from the agency’s traditional operations.
“What’s happening at the EPA right now is not business as usual,” stated Marc Boom, senior director of public affairs for the Environmental Protection Network, during a press briefing. “It’s a serial shutdown of the agency’s ability to protect public health.”
Impact of Significant Budget Cuts
The Trump administration has proposed a 55 percent cut to the EPA’s $9 billion budget. However, Congress is considering less drastic reductions as part of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. These cuts pose a critical choice for lawmakers: protect Americans from environmental harm, or leave them with inadequate protections against pollution or chemical incidents.
While both the House and Senate have proposed reductions, the EPN commended the Senate’s bipartisan proposal as more responsible. The Senate’s proposal calls for a 5% reduction in the agency’s budget while preserving essential scientific, health and safety capabilities.
House Versus Senate Proposals
Contrastingly, the House’s proposed 23 percent cut would drastically reduce enforcement funding, cripple essential scientific research capacities, and eliminate over 60 percent of the state funding crucial for maintaining safe drinking water in communities, according to Boom.
However, the bipartisan Senate spending deal seems uncertain following calls from Colorado Democrats for Congress to resist the administration’s attempts to close the country’s leading climate research center and maintain its funding.
Implications of EPA Dismantling
Boom warns that dismantling the EPA will leave Americans more vulnerable to environmental threats. “That’s more exposure to toxic chemicals that raise cancer risk, more dirty air that worsens asthma and lung disease, more threats to reproductive health and child development.”
The EPA’s ability was first undermined on President Donald Trump’s first day in office when he revoked several executive orders from the previous administration aimed at strengthening environmental, public health and climate regulations in a notion to “unleash” American energy.
Reducing EPA’s Impact
In March, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin pledged to cut 65 percent of the agency’s total spending. This included the cancellation of $20 billion in already allocated Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants and nearly $2 billion in grants designed to improve air and water quality and resilience to extreme weather.
Furthermore, Zeldin announced additional $750 million savings from staff cuts as part of its restructuring efforts. These cuts primarily targeted the agency’s scientific research arm, leading to the loss of over 3,700 jobs. This targeted campaign intended to put civil servants “in trauma,” according to Boom, referring to a speech Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought made.
Lawsuits Against the Administration
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration by nonprofits, tribes, local governments, and state attorneys general, alleging violations of federal law and the Constitution by terminating congressionally allocated funds and firing civil servants without cause.
Risk to EPA’s Ability to Perform Its Core Mission
According to Brigit Hirsch, EPA’s press secretary, the agency has the resources it needs to fulfill its main mission of protecting human health and the environment, meet all statutory obligations, and make the best-informed decisions based on scientific standards.
However, over the past year, political appointees have sidelined experts and, critics argue, the legal framework to rollback limits on toxic air, water and chemical pollution, set about reorganizing and dismantling the Office of Research and Development, and forced thousands of career staff out.
“Congress has a critical opportunity right now, in the coming weeks, to put a giant stop sign on the attempts to dismantle and modify EPA,” said Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, a former top ORD science advisor and administrator, who spent 40 years at the EPA. “Science is really foundational to EPA in its ability to achieve its mission, and now it’s at risk,” Orme-Zavaleta added.
Boom echoed her sentiments, saying, “Congress now has the first real opportunity to put some checks on the serial shutdown of the nation’s environmental watchdog, and to reaffirm that Americans still expect EPA to do its job.”
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