Trump’s budget plan would cut climate programs, boost military spending
The Trump administration on Friday announced its 2027 budget proposal, which includes changes (especially cuts) that it wants Congress to enact in the next fiscal year.
Perhaps the biggest news on the subject offer According to information from Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, a record defense budget of 1.5 trillion dollars is targeted. But hidden beneath the bottom lines are other significant changes to climate and environmental programs that will help advance the administration’s efforts to thwart the “green agenda.” These include cuts to clean energy programs and significant cuts to federal science agencies and environmental justice efforts.
“President Trump is committed to eliminating funding for the global climate agenda while deregulating American energy production,” the White House said. talked about the plan.
Some Democrats and environmental groups have already vowed to oppose it.
“This is just an out-of-touch demand for more money for guns and bombs and less money for things people need like housing, health care, education, roads, scientific research and environmental protection,” reads a statement from Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the budget committee.
Climate-related items in the proposed budget include a proposal to defund more than $15 billion in Department of Energy funds for programs for “unreliable renewable energy, removal of carbon dioxide from the air, and other costly technologies that burden taxpayers and consumers,” the proposal says.
“The U.S. Government will no longer subsidize intermittent forms of energy that destabilize the grid or Green New Scam projects that increase consumer costs and promote radical left policies,” he says.
The budget would direct nearly $4.7 billion from President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to the distribution of firm baseload power, that is, energy that operates 24/7 and generally does not include wind or solar. It would also cut about $1.1 billion from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which manages national laboratories and funds energy technology research.
It would also end subsidies for electric vehicle battery manufacturers, cancel $4 billion in Department of Transportation funding for electric vehicle charging programs, and eliminate the $4 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, among other changes.
Trump has long been hostile to electric vehicles. worked last year Repeal California’s authority set stricter tailpipe emissions standards from the federal government, which supports the state’s ambitious goal Ban on sales of new gas-powered cars from 2035.
The proposal also calls for cutting the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by nearly half. The change would eliminate some funding for EPA’s Superfund program, as well as funding for drinking water programs and environmental justice programs; The proposal suggests “advancement of discriminatory and radical ideological projects”.
Additionally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service and other climate and weather agencies, is about to be cut by $1.6 billion. The cuts would target climate research and education grant programs at NOAA, which the proposal states would “radicalize, encourage students against markets.” [diversity, equity and inclusion] and spread false environmental alarm.
NOAA has taken a serious hit since Trump returned to office. mass layoffs and the closure of many offices.
Environmental groups on Friday urged Congress to reject the cuts.
“Cutting NOAA’s budget would weaken weather forecasts, disrupt fisheries management, and halt ocean research, putting American lives, livelihoods, and global scientific leadership at risk,” said Katherine Tsantiris, director of government relations at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy.
Other changes in the budget include new priorities for the recently revamped U.S. Forest Service. comprehensive structural overhaul. The budget would shift the agency’s focus to domestic timber production and wildfire risk reduction and response, and away from more recent turns toward conservation and recreation. Last year, the administration ordered the Forest Service to open nearly 112.5 million acres of national forests to logging, including all 18 of California’s national forests.
The proposal is generally consistent with the president’s actions so far in his second term. Emphasis on fossil fuel production and targeted attacks on clean energy programs, especially as offshore wind.
Trump also targeted climate science in his first year back in office. Disbanding the National Center for Atmospheric Researcha leading climate and weather research institution in Boulder, Colo. Lay off hundreds of scientists We are working on the Sixth National Climate Assessment.
Like most presidential budgets, the proposal is unlikely to pass in its current form. Congress will now consider the plan, with final spending levels expected to be determined later this year.
