House Republicans on Thursday passed a bill with massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency's budget, though the legislation has virtually no chance of becoming law with a Democrat-majority Senate, reported Axios.
HR 4821, approved on a 213-203 vote, slashes the EPA's budget by 39%, or $3.9 billion, the lowest the agency has had in three decades, and requires the Biden administration to pursue drilling off the coast of Alaska.
It also provides a $1.6 billion increase in discretionary funding for the Wildland Fire Management accounts at the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service.
The Senate's version of the bill would give the EPA $9.9 billion, slightly below its current annual budget.
"Cutting funding is never easy or pretty, but with the national debt in excess of $33 trillion and inflation at an unacceptable level, we had to make tough choices to rein in federal spending," Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who chairs the subcommittee that wrote the bill, said on the floor Thursday, according to the Hill.
The White House this week in a statement said President Joe Biden would veto the bill.
"Funding at such low levels would not only roll back key gains made by this administration to protect the health and well-being of American families, it would prevent any meaningful progress in this area for years to come, endangering communities now and for generations to come," the Biden administration said.
"These damaging cuts would drastically diminish the agency's ability to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the public lands we cherish, and the natural resources we count on, risking the health of millions of Americans."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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