Positive Bipartisan Cooperation on the Environment--From Congress

(No. That is not a joke. It really happened.)

Today March, 23, 2018, just before his vacation, Donald Trump signed into law the $1.3 trillion government-wide spending bill released late Wednesday by Congress. The bill, among other items, rejects proposals to slash the budgets of Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

(Hang on. There is a joke here. Let’s ask Scotty if he sees it. Scotty?)

Senior lawmakers—both Democrats and Republicans–negotiating the omnibus appropriations bill provided EPA $8.1 billion for fiscal 2018, keeping EPA funding at the same funding level as 2017 despite requests for reductions in budget.  In addition, lawmakers tacked on an additional $763 million for various EPA programs related to water infrastructure and to cleaning up polluted Superfund sites. Savage.

(Hmm. No response from Scotty. Okay, let’s ask Ricky. Ricky?)

Plus, the bill signed today by the President, all but ignores the original DoE proposal, which would have slashed funding for renewable energy and late-stage technology commercialization efforts at ARPA-E. Some had sought to cut the renewables office by 65% and eliminate ARPA-E while increasing funding for the Office of Fossil Energy. Spending for carbon capture and storage would have been reduced, instead focusing agency-dollars on the development of new coal technologies. The Secretary of Energy had promised the Congress that huge cuts in DoE funding would not mean a reduction (giggle) in results.

Instead…

The omnibus bill from a bipartisan Congress includes an increase of nearly $1.5 billion in DoE clean energy funding, including a 14% increase to the renewable energy and efficiency office, and a 16% increase at the ARPA-E. The increased funding plan for DoE comes after senators from both parties questioned the Secretary of Energy over his agency’s budget request earlier this week regarding the steep cuts to energy programs. Ouch.

One last question remains: Does anyone believe The Traitor has read the bill?