Energy and environment programs escape Trump’s ax in spending deal
The tentative $1.3 trillion deal to fund the federal government reached this week by congressional leaders forestalled drastic cuts to programs at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department that the Trump administration demanded in its latest budget request to Congress.
For Democrats who sought preserve energy and environmental programs held over from the Obama administration, the spending package represents a victory — at least until the next budget negotiation.
“Together, we rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to make massive and dangerous budget cuts,” Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the EPA and related agencies, said in a statement Wednesday.
Even before President Donald Trump’s election, many Republicans agitated for deep cuts into offices constricting companies with environmental rules and spending money on alternative energy research they regard as wasteful. For them, the budget deal kicks the can down the road.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., leader of the House Freedom Caucus, slammed the entire deal, saying that “wins for conservatives will be few and far between.”
In general, the spending bill faces opposition from many fiscal conservatives in the GOP but is unlikely to be derailed given its support among moderate Democrats and Republicans.
EPA funding
The bill freezes funding for the EPA at $8.1 billion, the same amount the agency was given for fiscal 2017, whereas last month the Trump administration called for a more than 23 percent cut to the agency.
The bill preserves money for several programs targeted by the Trump administration, including full funding for the EPA’s state and regional grants, although overall funding for EPA regulatory programs was reduced by $23.5 million below current levels.
The package also protects EPA staff, including scientists, from requested funding for large-scale buyouts, Udall’s office said, though even without that money EPA chief Scott Pruitt was able to reduce staffing levels by 650 positions last year.
Lawmakers also boosted by $66 million appropriations for cleaning up Superfund sites, one of Pruitt’s often-stated priorities.
Energy Department funding
Energy programs within the Energy Department will get a $1.6 billion boost to a total of $12.9 billion in funding. Congress will increase funding for the department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, an energy technology nursery that the department’s head Rick Perry called “impressive” and “simply a preview of our possibilities” last week, by $47 million for a total of $353 million. For two years in a row, the White House had called for eliminating the agency.
Another part of the department targeted by Trump for heavy cuts, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, received $2.3 billion, or about a 14 percent increase in funding from current levels. The Trump administration wanted to cut funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by nearly three-fourths.
In recent days, lawmakers have rallied to protect these energy programs. Just before the release of the spending bill, a group of 110 House lawmakers argued against proposed cuts to EERE while earlier this week 86 lawmakers released another letter calling for “strong funding” for ARPA-E.
“It’s been a long time coming but Congress got it right with this bill by maintaining or increasing funding for energy efficiency programs despite the dramatic cuts proposed by the administration,” said Ben Evans, vice president of government affairs and communications for the nonprofit group Alliance to Save Energy.
The bill would also boost money for national parks by about 8 percent, including a roughly $150 million increase to address the National Park Service’s $11.6 billion maintenance backlog. Kristen Brengel, vice president for government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, touted the bill for providing funding “just as the National Park Service is preparing for another busy summer travel season.”