White House ‘concerned’ that House bill doesn’t cut EPA funding enough

by Niv Elis - 07/18/18 4:28 PM ET

The White House is expressing concerns that a funding bill set for a vote Thursday in the House does not make deep enough cuts for agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The House is debating a package of two spending bills, one for Financial Services and the other for Interior and Environment.

The bills, which advanced through committees along partisan lines, conform to a bipartisan budget cap deal that President Trump signed into law earlier this year.

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But Trump’s proposed budget called for slashing government programs by billions of dollars. The White House on Wednesday issued a Statement of Administration Policy expressing dismay that such cuts were not taken into account.

For example, while Trump wanted the EPA’s budget cut by $2.2 billion, the House bill only lopped $100 million off its budget. Likewise, the House bill funded the Interior Department at $2.4 billion more than Trump requested.

The White House on Wednesday also expressed disappointment that the bills did not eliminate initiatives such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

“The Administration does not consider their activities to be core Federal responsibilities,” the White House wrote in its Statement of Administration Policy.

The House bill increased funding for both by $2 million.

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