SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

* indicates required
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact: Elliott Negin,Media Director,enegin@ucsusa.org

Trump Budget Disregards Science, Puts Public Health, Innovation at Risk, Science Group Says

President Trump's proposed fiscal year 2018 budget is a deeply unjust budget that would disproportionately harm poor and working class Americans, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The budget would impose massive cuts on health, environmental and safety net programs. It also would gut federal research in the energy, climate science and medical fields.

WASHINGTON

President Trump's proposed fiscal year 2018 budget is a deeply unjust budget that would disproportionately harm poor and working class Americans, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The budget would impose massive cuts on health, environmental and safety net programs. It also would gut federal research in the energy, climate science and medical fields.

Below is a statement by Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists and former Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner.
"President Trump's proposed budget takes a wrecking ball to agencies that protect our health, safety and environment. His budget would gut the EPA, for example, taking our environmental cops off the beat and allowing those who would seek to pollute to get away with it. I also know from my experience heading a state environmental agency that states have neither the funds nor the staff to pick up the slack when federal enforcement is decimated.
"His budget would also stall out U.S. technological innovation and scientific research, and the country's capabilities to respond to extreme weather and national security threats. This is all while driving up the deficit to pay for massive military budget increases we don't need. The Department of Energy, for example, has an office that's breaking new ground on advanced energy technologies that could boost the U.S. economy significantly. But the president doesn't have the foresight to see the benefit of these types of programs.
"We need a budget that takes us forward, not backwards. Members of Congress should oppose this budget and ensure that agencies in charge of keeping American families safe and healthy have the funding to do their jobs."
Below is a statement by Kathleen Rest, executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists and a public health expert.
"Communities across the country will pay the price--literally and figuratively--for President Trump's proposed budget cuts to federal agencies that protect public health and safety. Slashing the EPA budget by a third will increase exposure to toxic substances like mercury, arsenic, and soot in the air we breathe and water we drink.

"At the USDA, it's difficult to overstate just how egregious the proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would be. They would create suffering and hunger for millions of people--people in rural and urban America from every racial and ethnic background.

"Similarly, a 17 percent cut to the CDC is a significant hit to our nation's premiere disease prevention agency, just as cuts to workplace safety and research programs would put our nation's workforce at risk.

"These proposed cuts clearly reflect the administration's continued assault on our public protections, particularly for our most vulnerable populations and communities. Congress should do the right thing and put the public interest first. We cannot afford to play Russian roulette with our health."

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.