House Lawmakers Pass Budget Resolution that Could Cut EPA Funding

Date: April 9, 2012

Source: News Room

House lawmakers passed a budget resolution that could result in a 30 percent haircut to the EPA which Democrats and environmentalists fear would harm core EPA programs to protect health and slow the pace of Superfund cleanups. The resolution, drafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), passed the House March 29 by a vote of 228-191. It would change the terms of the debt ceiling deal reached last year by exempting defense funds from $1.2 trillion in budget "sequestration" cuts over 10 years set to take effect in 2013. Such a move means that lawmakers would have to take the $600 billion in defense cuts and add them to the $600 billion cut already facing discretionary programs, which include EPA's funding.

Budget resolutions act as a blueprint for long term spending by limiting spending among congressional committees and the money they can appropriate to different agencies within their purview. During a March 28 hearing on EPA's fiscal year 2013 budget, Mathy Stanislaus, head of the agency's Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response, said that the president's FY13 budget request for EPA would already cut $37 million from Superfund cleanups and prohibit any new EPA-led construction projects in the next year. "Clearly any further cuts will result in an increase in the backlog," Stanislaus said. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is urging lawmakers to repeal the resolution since it would cut spending "in an irresponsible manner that can endanger the public health protections that we rely on," she said.

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