Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine says the Trump administration has yet to propose a final budget for the Environmental Protection Agency, and while he says he is concerned about what the Trump administration has in mind for the EPA, he says any major cuts will face strong opposition.
“Many of these cuts flow right back to the states. So what you’re really doing —it’s really neat work if you can get it, of balancing the federal budget by just shifting to the states,” King says.
He says the EPA has bipartisan support in the Senate, and that members of Congress understand that EPA programs provide grants to states to enforce environmental laws and to pay for cleanup and remediation of pollution problems at the state and local levels.
“The president proposes and the Congress disposes, so I’m very worried about these proposed cuts, but I know that Congress will have the final say and I think that there is going to be considerable about of resistance,” he says.
