The White House has proposed a five-year budget plan that includes deficit spending for the first time in five years, as President Bush seeks to fight the war on terrorism with significant spending increases, paid for in part by budget cuts in certain domestic programs. While most agencies will see their budgets rise at least marginally, large cuts have been made in certain federal programs as offsets, including some at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
As expected, Democrats, who are critical of President Bush’s recent tax cut and blame him for frittering away the Clinton-era surplus, have criticized the fiscal year 2003 (FY ’03) budget proposal. However, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill predicts that the federal budget will be able to return to a surplus by FY ‘05.
The Bush budget proposal for EPA is actually slightly higher than the FY ’02 request at $7.7 billion. The Administration proposes to cut enforcement staff in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA) by 146 full-time positions. Last year, Congress objected to a Bush plan to cut 270 full-time positions and enact $25 million in grants for state enforcement programs. The White House grant proposal this year is $15 million.
President Bush also has requested $77.5 million for evaluation of information on new chemicals, including $15.1 million for EPA’s High Production Volume (HPV) chemical testing program, $1.1 million for the Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program, and $2.93 million for its endocrine disruptor screening and testing program.
The White House has requested $1.3 billion for the federal Superfund program, roughly the same as requested in FY ’02. While funding is holding steady, however, EPA officials do acknowledge that the Superfund Trust Fund is being rapidly depleted, in part because of the expiration of Superfund taxes. Marianne Horinko, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, believes that Congress will have to do something in the near future to ensure that adequate funds are available for Superfund clean-ups, but she stopped short of calling for reimposition of the taxes. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, is considering whether to include language in a draft energy bill that would reimpose the Superfund taxes.
The FY ’03 budget proposal also includes full funding for brownfields redevelopment, at $200 million, a 100 percent increase over current funding levels. The budget also proposes $124 million for homeland security, including $20 million to address threats to the nation’s drinking water supply.
The President has requested a $437 million budget for OSHA in FY ‘03, including a $2.75 million increase in compliance assistance, outreach, and training activities. However, the overall request is $8 million less than FY ’02 funding levels. OSHA Administrator John Henshaw defended the cuts, saying that they amount to only two percent of the Agency’s budget and are practical in light of the enormous costs associated with homeland security. Henshaw acknowledges that approximately $700,000 will be cut from OSHA’s enforcement budget, but he defended the budget numbers, stating “this budget will give us the resources we need to help ensure workers’ safety and health, while maintaining fiscal responsibility. It is a strong and sound budget that supports our priorities of leadership, effective enforcement, outreach and education, and partnerships.”
