The following is U.S. PIRG’s analysis of the proposed 2008 budget announced by the Bush Administration today. Please feel free to contact the experts listed below for more detail.
Clean Water/ EPA Budget: Christy Leavitt
(202) 546-9707 x313 (cleavitt@pirg.org)
Energy Funding: Kate Johnson
(202) 546-9707x350 (kjohnson@pirg.org)
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
and National Parks: Zack Brown (202)546-9707x325
(zbrown@pirg.org)
Superfund: Alex Fidis (202) 546-9707 x329
(afidis@pirg.org)
Health Care: Paul Brown (202) 546-9707 x325
(pbrown@pirg.org)
Higher Education: Luke Swarthout (202) 546-9707x319
(lswarthout@pirg.org)
CLEAN WATER: The President’s FY2008
budget request weakens environmental and public health protection by cutting
funding for critical clean water programs.
The administration’s
proposed budget significantly cuts the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF),
the federal loan program to help communities finance wastewater treatment
projects. The proposed Clean Water SRF budget of $688 million is a cut of $199
million below the FY06 funding level and $395 million below the FY07 funding
level passed by House of Representatives last week in the Continuing
Appropriations Resolution.
EPA has projected that nearly $400 billion
is needed over the next 20 years to improve the country’s clean water
infrastructure in order to preserve water quality. To help ensure clean and safe
water for all Americans, President Bush and Congress should fund the Clean Water
SRF at $1.5 billion.
For more
information, contact Christy Leavitt (202) 546-9707 x313
(cleavitt@pirg.org)
ENERGY FUNDING: America’s dependence on
fossil fuels threatens our environment, economy, and national security. It is
time for President Bush to dramatically increase support for renewable energy
and energy efficiency in order to build a new energy future.
While we
applaud the increases in funding for solar energy
($65 million increase from $83 million in ’07
estimated) and biomass ($87 million increase from $92
million in ’07 estimated) and the phase out of the
oil and gas research and development program, the rest of the
Administration’s energy budget fails to move us toward a cleaner and more secure
energy future. Despite these increases, the renewable energy and energy
efficiency budget continues to be dwarfed by spending on coal and nuclear power,
with enormous increases in funding for nuclear programs ($308 million increase
of ’07 estimated?). This one year increase is greater
than the combined budgets of the solar and wind energy programs ($148 and $40
million respectively).
Meanwhile, the
President’s budget eliminates funding for geothermal energy (from $25 million
’07 estimated), and slashes $115 million from the
weatherization program.
For more information, contact Kate Johnson
(202) 546-9707 (kjohnson@pirg.org)
ARCTIC and NATIONAL PARKS
FUNDING: The President’s budget assumes that the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal
Plain will be leased to oil companies for $7 billion. We have all experienced
the uncertainty of recent oil prices. It is irresponsible to base the country’s
budget on highly speculative and dubious projections of oil lease revenues for
the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Drilling for oil in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will neither make us energy independent nor
generate anywhere close to $7 billion, but it would destroy one of America’s
last wild places.
We are pleased with the President’s funding levels
for the country’s national parks. The $250 million increase is a big step
toward reinvigorating our decaying parks system. Our national parks are
America’s iconic treasures. We must preserve this legacy for future
generations.
For more information, contact Zack Brown (202)
546-9707x325 (zbrown@pirg.org)
SUPERFUND: The federal Superfund
program protects public health and environmental quality by funding the cleanup
and remediation of hazardous waste sites. With the expiration of the polluter
pays fees, funding for Superfund now comes mainly from general revenues.
Superfund appropriations from general revenues, however, have not kept pace with
program demands.
The President’s 2008 budget proposes a modest increase
over 2007 spending levels from $1.22 to $1.24 billion. The proposed FY08
funding level falls well short of the $1.68 billion funding needs calculated by
a congressionally mandated study.
Recurring funding shortfalls postpone
and/or delay many critical Superfund cleanups. In order to meet Superfund
program demands, Congress and the Bush Administration must either increase
appropriations from general revenues, a prospect that conflicts with deficit
reduction goals, or reinstate the polluter pays fees to generate a reliable
source of cleanup money.
For more information, contact Alex Fidis
(202) 546-9707 x329 (afidis@pirg.org)
HEALTH CARE: The
President’s 2008 health care budget will increase by 4 percent. Unfortunately,
the inflation rate for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid is 7 percent a
year.
The President’s budget will squeeze programs such as the State
Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Medicaid and Medicare. About one
in four Americans is covered by these programs.
The budget calls for
reducing the number of children eligible for SCHIP by excluding children in
families above 200 percent of the Federal poverty level. Currently, several
states allow children from families with 300 percent of the poverty level. The
poverty level for a family of four is $20,650.
The President’s budget
will do little to help insure health coverage for the 46.6 million uninsured
Americans.
For more information, contact Paul Brown (202) 546-9707
x304 (pbrown@pirg.org)
HIGHER EDUCATION: The FY08 budget
calls for a significant increase in the maximum Pell Grant award to $4,600 but
also calls for deep cuts to critical student aid programs including the
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), the Perkins Loan Program and
the LEAP Program. While this budget acknowledges the importance of increasing
the Pell Grant award, unfortunately it largely represents a rearrangement of
federal spending rather than a new commitment to making college accessible for
low income students. We’re happy to see that the budget also makes cuts to the
excessive subsidies to banks.
In an analysis released in 2005, U.S.
PIRGs’ Higher Education Program found that the average public college student
from a family with an annual household income of $62,240 or less will have an
average of $3,600 in annual unmet need. Students deal with unmet need by taking
out additional loans, working longer hours or, in some cases, changing college
choices or not attending college at all.
For more information,
contact Luke Swarthout (202) 546-9707x319
(lswarthout@pirg.org)
U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest
Research Groups (PIRGs), takes on powerful interests on behalf of the American
public, working to win concrete results for our health and our
well-being.
