Week ahead: EPA chief faces more questions over Trump budget

Congressional appropriators will push ahead scrutinizing President Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget in the coming week, bringing the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in for another hearing.

This time, EPA head Scott Pruitt will testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subpanel with authority over the agency’s spending at a Tuesday meeting. 

Trump’s budget proposal released in May sought to slash the EPA’s spending by $2.4 billion, or about 31 percent. It includes eliminating or making deep cuts to air quality grants, climate change programs, cleanup efforts for major water bodies and more, as part of a $54 billion cut to non-defense spending for fiscal year 2018.

This will be Pruitt’s second time defending the budget on Capitol Hill. Earlier in June, he faced a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, where both Republicans and Democrats slammed major pieces of the budget and committed to restore funding for programs they favor. 

{mosads}Pruitt tried to reassure lawmakers that the EPA can continue to execute its “core” functions with a much slimmer budget.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the House Natural Resources Committee will have a busy week advancing legislation and GOP priorities.

The full panel will hold a markup meeting Tuesday to vote on nearly two-dozen proposed bills within its jurisdiction. 

The agenda includes some major legislation, such as the Reclaim Act, which aims to help revitalize distressed coal communities; and the Resilient Federal Forests Act, which seeks to reduce the threats of wildfires and other threats to federally owned forests.

The Natural Resources Committee’s subpanel on oversight will meet Wednesday to discuss the impacts of “excessive” litigation against the Interior Department.

The next day, the energy and mineral resources subcommittee will hold a hearing on access to oil and natural gas development on federal lands. 

Senators will kick off the week with a Monday vote on confirming Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairwoman Kristine Svinicki for a third term of five years.

Svinicki has broad, bipartisan support, and her confirmation passed through the Environment and Public Works Committee on voice vote. She has served on the NRC for nearly a decade.

Svinicki cleared a procedural vote in the Senate Thursday by a vote of 89 to 10, setting up a Monday evening final vote.

Recent stories 

Trump administration removes protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears 

Franken, Perry clash over climate change 

Coal magnate sues John Oliver for defamation 

Lawyer: ‘No timeframe’ for new Dakota Access environmental review 

Dems, greens press Trump administration on methane rewrites 

Perry cites ‘moral obligation’ to build Yucca nuclear waste site 

Senators: Trump’s Interior budget is going nowhere 

Oil giants back carbon tax proposal 

Trump regulators trigger pollution fight 

Solar panel makers look to White House for help 

Energy Secretary Rick Perry: Carbon dioxide is not ‘primary’ driver of climate change