Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee's hearing on the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency:
Thank you, Chair McCollum and Ranking Member Joyce, for holding this hearing. Welcome, Administrator Wheeler.
I am having déjà vu as I look at another Trump budget request that would drastically slash the EPA, in this case by more than 30%. Despite Congress’ repeated rejections of the Trump budget cuts, you again propose to eliminate programs that are important to our environment and the health of Americans.
Climate change is a threat to our nation, and we must act now to avoid its most severe impacts. And yet, the Trump Administration is steering our country in the wrong direction.
Even though the EPA’s budget justification claims to prioritize funding for initiatives to improve air quality, it proposes to cut the Office of Air and Radiation by 45 percent and to eliminate 27% of the Office’s staff. These cuts will result in dirty air and weakened public health.
The justification claims to prioritize chemical safety but proposes to eliminate programs that evaluate the risks from Endocrine Disruptors, the Pollution Prevention Program, and the Beach Protection Program, which protect Americans from pollutants in the air we breathe and in recreational waters.
Your budget also falls short in the EPA’s mission to ensure safe and clean water. You propose drastic cuts to Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act investments, the State Revolving Funds, and Research on Safe and Sustainable Water Resources.
I am especially disappointed that EPA has decided to delay rulemakings to protect Americans from toxic chemicals like methylene chloride. It also continues to suppress its own science about the risks of chemicals like formaldehyde, pesticides, and more.
I am equally dismayed your agency would endanger public health and safety by prioritizing the agendas of big polluters when evaluating Superfund cleanup sites like the Hudson River PCB contamination.
These cuts send a clear message about the agency’s priorities to put polluter interests above public health. We have grown to expect this from the Trump Administration over the last two years.
Instead of pursuing climate and clean air solutions to protect the planet and the economy, your agency is pursuing an agenda that is so extreme that in many cases even industry isn’t asking for it.
This budget is a disappointment. The American people deserve better.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
