Rep. Jenkins Helps Cute EPA Budget

Press Release

Thanks to his work on the House Appropriations Committee, U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins (R-W.Va.) has helped cut the EPA's budget by more than half a billion dollars.

The fiscal year 2018 budget for the Environmental Protection Agency is cut by $528 million in the Interior Appropriations bill, which the committee approved last Tuesday night. It also supports President Trump's plan to rightsize the agency by providing the resources the White House to offer buyouts and voluntary separation agreements to EPA employees.

"I'm working with my colleagues and President Trump to cut wasteful spending at the EPA. While it's important that we continue critical investments to improve our air and water, it's imperative that Congress act on its power of the purse and stop funding anti-coal regulations. This budget supports the EPA's core functions without furthering the radical environmental agenda we saw under the Obama administration, and I'm proud to have helped to write this bill as a member of the Interior subcommittee," Rep. Jenkins said.

The bill protects important West Virginia programs, including:

$75 million ($25 million for West Virginia) to continue a pilot program to accelerate the reclamation of abandoned mine lands, money that Rep. Jenkins fought hard to secure for a third consecutive year.
$465 million for the Payments In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which provides more than $3 million to West Virginia counties like Greenbrier and Pocahontas to pay for local services like police, firefighters, and school and road construction.
$1.5 billion for the Fish and Wildlife Service, including funding to ensure completion of repairs to the White Sulphur Springs hatchery after it was damaged in last June's floods.
$2.9 billion for the National Park Service to help maintain and preserve West Virginia's national parks for more than 1.6 million annual visitors.
This bill also reflects President Trump's goal to rein in outdated, unnecessary and job-killing regulations at the EPA. It includes a provision authorizing the EPA administrator and the Army secretary to withdraw the Waters of the United States rule, building on actions taken by Congress and an executive order from the president earlier this year.

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