Rudhdi Karnik, rudhdi.karnik@sierraclub.org, 202-495-3055
WASHINGTON D.C.-- Tonight, Donald Trump reportedly released the extended budget proposal for FY2018 that includes large cuts to life-saving agencies and programs, such as EPA and DOI, putting American health and lands at risk.
In response, Sierra Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune, released the following statement:
“This budget will make our families sick while making corporate polluters rich. Trump’s budget is rigged for billionaires and CEOs, making deep and painful cuts that sell out our public lands, decimate programs that protect the health of our families and communities, and put family-sustaining clean energy jobs at risk-- just to boost the profits of corporate polluters.
“If this budget passes, it will mean dirtier air and water, as our bedrock protections could go unenforced because of massive budget and staff cuts at the EPA. It will end clean-up programs in places like our iconic Great Lakes, the Puget Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay, while vastly expanding drilling on our public lands. It’ll end the Energy Star program, which saves consumers money, end the program that keeps dangerous diesel emissions away from our kids’ schools, and end AmeriCorps and programs that connect kids with the outdoors. It slashes nearly all funding for climate action and climate science research. It threatens our last untouched wild places, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and throws away billions of dollars on a boondoggle of a border wall. And that’s just the start.
“The American people are watching, and they will continue to demand that their voices are heard as Congress sets funding priorities for our government. Congress needs to stand up for our families and reject any cuts to programs that would that put our children at risk”