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[ShadowSwordmaster]

Members of the congressional committee responsible for the Environmental Protection Agency's budget—Republican and Democrat alike—made clear Thursday they have no intention of approving the White House's proposal to slash the agency's spending.

In a hearing, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt defended the Trump administration's budget plan for the first time on Capitol Hill, insisting that the agency he leads could fulfill its mission under a plan that cuts its budget more than any other federal agency's.

On climate change, the committee members divided along party lines on whether they supported the Trump administration's decision to exit the Paris accord. Pruitt, who was a chief proponent of the move, claimed that President Donald Trump would "continue engagement" on the subject. But most of the hearing focused on other issues, with members of both parties driving home the point that Congress will not pass a budget that cuts the EPA's funding by 31 percent and eliminates nearly 50 of the agency's programs.

More in the link.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15062017/scott-pruitt-epa-budget-hearing-congress-opposes-trump-cuts

 

[SocksAndShoes]

ALL THIS WINNING.....I CAN'T TAKE IT

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

The GOP has done not-shitty things for like three days straight now. I like this almost-pattern we've got here.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) balked at the idea of cutting the Great Lakes Initiative. To avoid forcing either Pruitt or Trump to bear the brunt of his criticism, he began to refer to the budget by the name of Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a former congressman. "Simply put, the Mulvaney budget appears to largely remove the federal government as a partner in all of our efforts to manage and to Great Lakes," Joyce said.

Identifying_Invertebrates_by_R._Bruce_Hoadley.jpeg

 

[Vicetrailia]

"Climate change to us is very real. It's not an environmental platitude," she said. Maine lobstermen, she said, "look at me with fear in their eyes because we are watching the migration of lobsters, as we've seen the disappearance of shrimping. This is important to their identity; it's important economically. I can't go home to people and say this isn't happening. I can't go home and say ocean acidification isn't happening."

Referring to Pruitt's home state and his well-document close relationship with its biggest industry, Pingree said, "I know it's different in Oklahoma, where you have the fossil fuel industry in your backyard," she said. "But I represent a state in the tailpipe of the fossil fuel industry."

Dang.

 

[CrocMother]

Head of EPA arguing for Congress to give the agency LESS funds.

We are through the looking glass people

 

[theWB27]

At all would've been great, but I'll take mulvaney getting this thrashing.

 

[ratcliffja]

The GOP has done not-shitty things for like three days straight now. I like this almost-pattern we've got here.

It's the one big benefit of not having term limits for Congress. They have to worry about the long game a bit more than somebody like Trump who only has to deal with the short term fallout. While they don't care about what happens to the US in 50 years, if the EPA budget gets so blatantly bad that increases in pollution are obvious even to the biggest anti-environmentalists, they're going to feel it in the next 10-20 years.

 

[kirblar]

The GOP has done not-shitty things for like three days straight now. I like this almost-pattern we've got here.

On the budget they're having to reach out to Dems to pass CRs because their crazies won't play ball.

 

[Master Yoshi]

While I'm glad to see this news, the fact that we're even discussing it is literally unbelievable.

 

[night814]

Very strange for a department head to be ok with a slashed budget, party before country strikes again

 

[kess]

Guess what, constituents like parks.

 

[Balphon]

"Agency Head Goes Before Congress to Demand Less Money"

It's certainly a new headline.

 

[Lil Marco]

While I'm glad to see this news, the fact that we're even discussing it is literally unbelievable.

I know right? The politicization of science is America's biggest L so far aside from slavery

 

[carlsojo]

The GOP has done not-shitty things for like three days straight now. I like this almost-pattern we've got here.

Writing is on the wall for what comes next.

 

[RinsFury]

Take another loss, you worthless piece of shit.

 

[Blader]

Very strange for a department head to be ok with a slashed budget, party before country strikes again

Pruitt was suing the EPA for years as Oklahoma's AG. He was specifically chosen for that job so he could dismantle it from the inside.

 

[teiresias]

"Agency Head Goes Before Congress to Demand Less Money"

It's certainly a new headline.

Pruitt is an actual Trump appointee who has kissed the ring and no doubt "pledged loyalty." The EPA is not operating with an acting head that has been there for decades.

 

[TheCochese]

What a fantastic week, mostly.

 

[Zolo]

What a fantastic week, mostly.

Next two weeks will be something between Trump reacting to all of this and the healthcare bill coming up along with anything else new.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Head of EPA arguing for Congress to give the agency LESS funds.

We are through the looking glass people

Darkest timeline.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

What a fantastic week, mostly.

I wouldn't call this a slam-dunk. Instead of cutting funding by 31 percent and killing 50 programs, they could cut by 16 percent, kill 25 programs and pretend that's a livable compromise.

 

[Poona]

Pruitt needs to go. It's a disgrace he was approved.

Someone who wants to rip down the place he's supposedly in charge of is just messed up.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

The GOP has done not-shitty things for like three days straight now. I like this almost-pattern we've got here.

It's almost as if they learned something that has awoken the tiny shred of Rockefeller Republicanism left in them.

 

[Netherscourge]

Head of EPA arguing for Congress to give the agency LESS funds.

We are through the looking glass people

Won't be the last agency to go out of it's way to bankrupt itself under Trump.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Get Rekt, Bitches

 

[kswiston]

Even Republicans like hunting and fishing. A lot of Congress members are old enough to remember the Great Lakes during the 60s and 70s when Lake Erie was nearly a dead lake.

 

[TheCochese]

I wouldn't call this a slam-dunk. Instead of cutting funding by 31 percent and killing 50 programs, they could cut by 16 percent, kill 25 programs and pretend that's a livable compromise.

Better than the alternative.