Budget deal marks latest surrender to Trump, GOP
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congress passed a two-year deal to raise the sequestration spending caps early this morning. The arrangement breaks with the long-held principle of parity between defense and non-defense expenditures by increasing the Pentagon budget by $160 billion while only increasing social and environmental spending by $128 billion. If the agreement becomes law, it clears the path for a long awaited omnibus spending bill. The package also includes a number of tax subsidies for the dirty biomass and fossil fuel industries.
Lukas Ross, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement in response:
This budget deal is the latest example of Trump and the GOP’s dangerous agenda: corporate handouts to the fossil fuel industry and a swollen defense budget. Congress is trying to sneak in another huge tax break for Big Oil while handing the Pentagon a giant raise.
Now that an overall budget deal has been reached, progressives must hold fast and ensure that the impending spending bill does not become an opportunity for Trump and the GOP to gut crucial EPA programs.
Unfortunately, capitulation from Senate Democratic leadership and refusal to use the filibuster on other important issues is a bad sign for the EPA. How can we expect them to protect the EPA when they continue to concede elsewhere? With spending levels already near historic lows, our air and water cannot afford further cuts.
Expert contact: Lukas Ross, (202) 222-0724, [email protected]
Communications contact: Erin Jensen, (202) 222-0722, [email protected]