Sometimes a headline nails the story, and the Pueblo Chieftain did so with this one:
Lawmakers say they’ll set EPA budget, not Trump
It’s a fact the hankie-wringing Democrats seem to forget every time a Republican is in the White House — the president proposes a budget that Congress takes into consideration, then sets their own.
It’s in the Constitution, you can look it up — all spending must originate in the House of Representatives.
In this case, environmentalists are screaming that the sky is falling because Trump wants to slash the EPA budget, and that every state superfund is in peril.
But the Chieftain takes the time to explain that is simply not so.
A spokeswoman from U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton’s office says “It would be jumping to conclusions to assume the Congress would cut the agency that much. Congressman Tipton strongly believes the federal government must keep its obligations.”
And then there’s this:
Earlier this year, the Trump administration assured Tipton and other lawmakers that any cuts at EPA would not affect work at Superfund sites in Colorado and elsewhere.
What Trump does want Congress to cut, are Obama-era programs that spend millions of taxpayer dollars to prove that climate change exists, then coax us to spend even more money to spread the word that it exists so that fossil fuels are eliminated.
We suspect that newly-hired Washington bureaucrats in those divisions are correct in fearing for their jobs, but when Congressmen and women set the budget, they will take care of their districts, as promised.