WASHINGTON — Virginia U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined Sen. Jeff Merkley and 35 of their colleagues in opposing President Trump's proposal to cut more than 30 percent from the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The senators wrote to appropriation leaders, saying that Trump promised to promote clean air and water when addressing Congress Feb. 28. "Such a pledge is meaningless when the president follows it by proposing a 31 percent cut to the EPA's budget and a 20 percent reduction in its staff,'' the senators wrote.
Last week, Kaine and Warner blasted President Trump's budget that would zero out funding for the EPA's Chesapeake Bay program and severely cut funding for other core programs to maintain and restore the health of the bay.