THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET:
A TWO-PRONGED ATTACK ON THE ENVIRONMENT

October 13, 1999

In the Administration's balanced budget for fiscal year 2000, President Clinton and Vice President Gore proposed significant new investments to protect precious lands, clean our air and water, restore endangered salmon and combat global warming. But the Republican majority in Congress is again waging a two-pronged attack on the environment and public health - cutting funding for these key priorities, while loading budget bills with special-interest "riders" that would roll back protections already in place. The President calls on Congress to fund major environmental priorities - without spending the Social Security surplus -- and to pass budget bills free of anti-environmental riders.

Shortchanging our Environment and Public Health

Rolling Back Protections through Backdoor Attacks

Once again, Congress has loaded up appropriations bills with special-interest riders that aim to block progress or roll back key environmental safeguards. Among other things, these riders would pave the way for more logging on national forests; cripple endangered species protections; rip off taxpayers by letting oil companies pay below-market royalties on oil produced on federal lands; ease restrictions on the dumping of mining wastes on public lands; and attempt to hamstring common-sense efforts to reduce global warming pollution.