Details of how Trump will slice and dice the EPA’s budget emerge

Documents obtained by The Washington Post reveal the Trump administration’s current thinking on how to cut 31 percent of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget for the next fiscal year. Actually, if you put aside the funds provided to states for waste treatment and drinking water, the administration would hack the core of the EPA’s budget by 43 percent. This would eliminate 56 programs and shrink the agency’s staff by 25 percent—even more than initially proposed. The Trump administration claims it wants the EPA to focus on air and water pollution rather than combating climate change, but its proposal would cut a lot deeper than climate. The vast majority of the EPA’s budget is devoted to air and water, and these cuts will be felt by all Americans. (For the complete budget breakdown, go here.)