The $1.3 trillion Omnibus spending bill passed through Congress late Wednesday night rejects President Trump’s proposition to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) by a robust 31%.
The EPA has received a massive budget of $8.1 billion for the fiscal year 2018 – much more than the Administration asked for, and far more than the agency needs to fulfill it’s mandate. However, the bill still has to pass the President’s desk, and a veto might be in order.
“The American people support investments in clean air and water, public lands, parks, and the arts and humanities, which are vital to the health and well-being of our communities and our economy,” Sen. Tom Udall (N.M.), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee panel responsible for the EPA, said in a statement
“Together, we rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to make massive and dangerous budget cuts, and instead, we restored funding for the EPA,” Udall said.
The financing level speaks to a triumph for Democrats, who had contended that Trump’s cuts would be appalling. Be that as it may, a significant part of the GOP additionally restricted the 31% proposed cut.
The EPA funding bill, even though it spends massive amounts of money, also includes some positive reforms. For example, the bill defines wood burning as a carbon-neutral activity, so that people who heat their homes this way are not subject to harmful regulations.
Congress was also able to remove certain other provisions advancing the Obama Era Clean Water Rule policy – which punished farmers by defining puddles as full scale waterways that needed to be regulated by the government.