Trump budget cuts funds for EPA to fund border wall
President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget calls for huge reductions in Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department spending in order to pay for wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Trump administration unveiled its 2020 budget proposal Monday, which calls for cuts in domestic spending while dramatically increasing infrastructure and defense spending. In one specific piece of the proposal, the president is asking to slash the EPA’s budget by 31 percent — the biggest cut for any of the agencies, according to the Washington Examiner.
Trump’s budget would cut the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, an office within the Department of Energy, from $2.3 billion to about $700 million — a 70 percent reduction.
At the same time, the president is asking for $8.6 billion in funding for more border wall construction. The additional funds will allow the administration to reach its long-sought goal of completing 722 miles of barrier construction.
Since Democrats control the House, expect the budget to be “DOA”: dead-on-arrival.
The federal government just recently exited out of a historic 35-day shutdown over border wall funding, and those negotiations only produced $1.375 billion in funds for wall construction. Following the border wall compromise in February, Trump declared a national emergency, allowing him to allocate a total of $8 billion for wall construction.
The budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year, which ends one month before the presidential election, will likely keep border enforcement a top issue during the presidential election season.
photo Kai Stachowiak
