A Polluter's Dream Budget

When serial liar and demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump talks about cutting regulations and "draining the swamp," a subtext is destroying those programs that protect the public from predatory behavior on the part of his corporate supporters, particularly those who want to be freed to pollute and profit off of the environment. With today's release of Rump's first budget, he's making good on his commitment to the polluter class by proposing deep cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency, eliminating some 50 programs, and cutting the budget by 31% and thousands from the staff. It's part of Rump's overall assault on environmental and climate-related programs throughout government, from EPA to the Department of Energy, to the Paris Climate Accords.

We noted recently that Rump wants to cut the climate science work done by NASA and the Weather Service, specifically their ability to monitor global climate data from space. His appointment of anti-environmental activist and oil and gas industry shill Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator was a direct assault on the agency that Pruitt is overseeing. The proposed cuts in Federal government programs that protect the environment and study climate change will be devastating if passed, and that's a real likelihood with the Rethuglican vandals in control of Congress, who are beholden to their Big Pollution donors and their angry, misinformed base. As with climate change, there is a point of no return, where consequences can't be reversed. The deep cuts proposed across Government to these programs may put us near the point of no return for building a healthy environment for generations to come.