Home House advances greenest budget in recent memory
Local News

House advances greenest budget in recent memory

Contributors
congress
(© W. Scott McGill – stock.adobe.com)

The House Appropriations Committee approved funding for a number of important environmental programs Friday as part of the FY21 funding bill for the EPA and Department of the Interior.

Most notably, the budget dedicates emergency funding for many of the infrastructure proposals in the Moving Forward Act (H.R.2), including $10.2 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds.

The bill blocks the administration’s attempts to: open the Tongass National Forest to logging; drill for oil in the Arctic Refugeexpand offshore drillingweaken protections on toxic mercury and arsenic emissions; and open the Boundary Waters to toxic pollution from sulfide mining.

Bart Johnsen-Harris, director of federal government affairs for Environment America, issued the following statement on the action:

“The House is officially putting their money where their mouth is, using their constitutional power of the purse to protect and restore our environment. This is the greenest budget in recent memory, and we applaud Chairwomen Nita Lowey and Betty McCollum for their leadership.

“Key EPA programs—and the agency itself—have been chronically underfunded for years. This bill makes up for lost time, and then some. These ambitious and much-needed investments will begin to chip away at the estimated $472.6 billion and $271 billion backlogs for drinking water and clean water infrastructure, respectively. In addition to funding key programs, the bill goes further to protect our environment by blocking a number of damaging rollbacks that the administration has been advancing.

“It’s preposterous that EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler urged the president to veto this funding for his own agency. His claim that the bill would defund water infrastructure programs is misleading. And his assertion that it neglects the environment and Americans’ health is flat out wrong.

“Environment America will fight for this bill to become law. This is the kind of green budget we have been waiting for.”

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.

Latest News

patrick mahomes - How To Bet On The Super Bowl
Sports News

California Sports Betting Update: Bet On Super Bowl With CA Betting Apps

Kendrick Lamar
Sports News

How To Bet On The Super Bowl Halftime Show In The U.S.

All eyes will be on Kendrick Lamar during the Super Bowl half time show, with the hip hop superstar gearing up for one of the biggest performances of his life. See here for how to bet on the Super Bowl halftime show in the U.S. For those looking to bet on the half time show...

How To Bet On Super Bowl 2025
Football, Sports News

Chiefs clinch onto favoritism in latest Super Bowl odds as Eagles support continues

The latest Super Bowl odds see the Kansas City Chiefs clinch onto favoritism following a steady wave of support for the Philadelphia Eagles. Super Bowl LIX is destined to be the most-watched renewal of the NFL’s curtain closer in history as the Chiefs look to become the first side ever to win three consecutive championships....

uva basketball virginia tech women
Basketball, Sports

Women’s Basketball: Virginia Tech coasts past reeling Virginia, 87-62

donald trump maga
Politics, U.S. & World News

Rivera Sun: The Trump/Musk wrecking ball must be stopped before it’s too late

ben cline elon musk
Politics, U.S. & World News

Ben Cline is ‘fed up’ with people complaining about Elon Musk: You know what to do

project 2025 donald trump
Politics, U.S. & World News

America is sleepwalking into tyranny: How power is silently being seized