Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida’s 1st CD has only been in Congress for a month, but he’s eager to make his mark. He’s drafting a bill that would abolish the Environmental Protection Agency entirely and has sent an email to some of his House colleagues seeking co-sponsors. Alexander C. Kauffman at The Huffington Post obtained a copy of the email:
“Our small businesses cannot afford to cover the costs associated with compliance, too often leading to closed doors and unemployed Americans,” Gaetz wrote. “It is time to take back our legislative power from the EPA and abolish it permanently.” [...]
“Today, the American people are drowning in rules and regulations promulgated by unelected bureaucrats,” Gaetz said, “and the Environmental Protection Agency has become an extraordinary offender.” [...]
“As conservatives, we must understand that states and local communities are best positioned to responsibly regulate the environmental assets within their jurisdictions,” Gaetz said. “This legislation abolishes the EPA effective December 31, 2018, to allow our state and local government partners to implement responsible policies in the interim.”
It’s obvious the EPA is on shaky ground in the House, Senate and White House. But while it’s possible that Gaetz might get enough votes to pass the bill in the House, the Senate would be tough. The White House views the EPA as an outright enemy and has chosen in Scott Pruitt a man who has turned that view into several lawsuits in his role as attorney general of Oklahoma.
But something worse than what Gaetz has in mind could happen. The Trump regime could keep the EPA but weaken it so much through budget cuts, attrition of the dedicated and experienced staff without replacing them and reworked policy directives that it would make the mission of the agency a joke.
Significant cutbacks are apparently in the works. According to the news site Axios, there could be $513 million in cuts to the "states and tribal assistance grants" … $193 million in savings from terminating climate programs … $109 million in savings from "environment programs and management." And then there are the plans to change how the EPA does science and economics. Wanna guess which will win out in that contest?
Some resistance from within is inevitable. But whether it’s leaks or outright sabotage, insider resistance is always risky, and more so in the Trump era. Only a small proportion of people working anywhere are willing to accept the potential consequences of taking on their boss publicly or even secretly.
From the White House perspective, an EPA with its teeth yanked, its public face censored, its research curtailed makes good sense. Why exterminate the agency when culling enforcement, diluting policy, and reducing staff delivers pretty much the same outcome while allowing the Trump regime to keep up the pretense that people and the environment are still being protected instead of shined on.
In case you live in or near Rep. Gaetz turf and would like to give him a piece of your mind, he will be at a district town hall gathering Feb. 23 at the Oops Bowling Alley in Pace, FL. Tell him we sent you.