GOP Leaders Pack Anti-Environment Riders into Spending Bill

WASHINGTON (July 7, 2015) – Congressional Republicans have been working to add an array of anti-environment riders to the $30.17 billion fiscal year 2016 Interior and Environment appropriations bill, which already included a 9 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 budget  – actions that increase the likelihood of a government shutdown this fall.

The following is a comment from David Goldston, director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“Republican amendments to this bill would gut virtually every conservation, environmental, safety and health advance.  Republican leaders are putting forward no plan whatsoever to address any environmental or health problems, including climate change.  These measures would not only damage the environment, they make it ever more likely that there will be a counter-productive showdown this fall, perhaps leading to another costly government shutdown.  This is not what the public wants from Congress.”

A link to a detailed discussion of the Republican-led anti-environment budget riders is here: http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/2015-riders.asp