President Trump’s $1.1 trillion budget outline, released Thursday, proposes massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency while sharply increasing defense spending.
EPA funds would be slashed by 31 percent, according to the outline, making the agency the hardest-hit among departments targeted for reductions. These include the State Department, facing a 28 percent reduction, and Housing and Urban Development, marked for cuts of 13.2 percent; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, among others, face complete defunding. The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs would see increases of 10, seven, and six percent, respectively.
On Wednesday at an appearance in Ypsilanti, Michagan, Mr. Trump announced he would order a review of the EPA’s emissions regulations put into place under President Obama, and said that the White House was in the process of “setting up a task force in every federal agency to identify and remove any regulation that undermines American auto production.”