Energy

Trump’s Budget Is A Full-Scale Assault On Obama’s ‘Climate Action Plan’

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Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
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Aiming to meet major campaign promises, President Donald Trump’s budget proposal slashes funds to the bureaucracy and eliminates programs the Obama administration used to promote green energy and fight global warming.

The White House recommends funding a $54 billion increase in defense spending by cutting federal agency spending. Trump said the budget plan “puts America first by keeping more of America’s hard-earned tax dollars here at home.”

The proposal cuts billions of dollars from agencies used to promote former President Barack Obama’s “Climate Action Plan,” including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy and Department of State.

At EPA, for example, Trump’s budget proposal:

“Discontinues funding for the Clean Power Plan, international climate change programs, climate change research and partnership programs, and related efforts—saving over $100 million for the American taxpayer compared to 2017 annualized CR levels. Consistent with the President’s America First Energy Plan, the Budget reorients EPA’s air program to protect the air we breathe without unduly burdening the American economy.”

Trump wants these Energy Department programs cut:

“Eliminates the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program, and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program because the private sector is better positioned to finance disruptive energy research and development and to commercialize innovative technologies.”

Trump wants the State Department to stop funding these programs:

“Eliminates the Global Climate Change Initiative and fulfills the President’s pledge to cease payments to the United Nations’ (UN) climate change programs by eliminating U.S. funding related to the Green Climate Fund and its two precursor Climate Investment Funds.”

But these are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of federal climate programs. The Obama administration spread billions of dollars for climate programs throughout the government, making it harder to find and eliminate.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated the federal government spent $77 billion from 2008 to 2013 on climate programs. There’s likely more spending since Obama made every federal agency incorporate fighting global warming into their mission.

“Much of the effort in the Obama administration was to mainstream climate change,” Jesse Keenan, a former Department of Housing and Urban Development official who now teaches at Harvard University, told Bloomberg.

The White House proposal is only a “skinny budget” and doesn’t include proposals for how to handle entitlements or taxation. The full budget will be released in May.

The full budget will provide in more detail where cuts will be made within federal agencies.

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