Rudhdi Karnik, rudhdi.karnik@sierraclub.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2017
Contact: Rudhdi Karnik rudhdi.karnik@sierraclub.org
Sierra Club Response To Trump’s Rigged Budget Proposal
WASHINGTON D.C.-- Today, the Trump Administration released its 2018 budget proposals for discretionary spending. Among those proposals, Donald Trump has called for attacks that would dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior. Trump’s plans for the EPA’s budget includes decimating its staff and life-saving programs. The proposals for the Department of the Interior sharply reduce the budget to protect America’s parks, public lands and wildlife -- the foundation of the $646 billion outdoor recreation economy -- while other cuts underminine valuable programs to engage kids in service and learning outside.
Trump’s proposed budget eliminates funding used to protect America’s most iconic bodies of water, like the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. It would slash support for Superfund sites and hinder EPA’s ability to monitor air quality and check for signs of deadly and toxic pollution like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
Trump also would strip funding that enables the U.S. to meet its commitment to the Green Climate Fund, hampering our ability to continue to lead the world in climate action. He would also try to jumpstart making Yucca Mountain a nuclear waste dump, slash innovating clean energy research efforts (ARPA-E), eliminate funding for after-school and summer programs for at risk and underserved youth run by park and recreation agencies ( 21st Century Community Learning Centers program), put the EPA programs that respond to crisis like Flint at risk, and make additional cuts in order to funnel billions into the ineffective boondoggle of a border wall.
In response, Sierra Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:
“Money talks, and Trump’s budget proposal screams that the only thing that matters in his America is corporate polluters’ profits and Wall Street billionaires. If Trump refuses to be serious about protecting our health and climate, or our publicly owned lands, then Congress must act, do its job, and reject this rigged budget. The American people are watching, and they will continue to demand that their voices are heard and protected. Any member of Congress that fails to put the American people first will need to start updating their resume.”