WASHINGTON — Yesterday, President George W. Bush's administration proposed to cut the fiscal 2006 budget for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by nearly 6 percent to $7.57 billion, according to Reuters.
The budget plan cuts contributions to a clean water fund used by states and includes more money to clean up toxic waste sites, the report noted.
Total EPA funding would decline from the $8 billion that Congress allocated for the agency to protect the nation's air, water and land in the current budget year. In 2004, the EPA had a budget of $8.4 billion, the article said.
According to Reuters, most of the EPA funds cut for 2006 are due to a reduction in government contributions to a revolving fund that states use to upgrade sewage and septic systems and storm water runoff projects.
However, according to a news release issued yesterday by the EPA, a $79 million increase in new resources for EPA homeland security efforts over the 2005 budget may help the agency's core public safety work.
Included in the $79 million increase in Homeland Security funding is $44 million to launch a pilot program of monitoring and surveillance in select cities to provide early warning of contamination and an increase of $19.4 million for environmental decontamination research and preparedness, the EPA said.
Congress will debate and revise the White House budget proposal over the next few months before finalizing a government spending plan for fiscal 2006, which begins on Oct. 1, the article said.
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