Budget Bill is Victory for Clean Water and Rivers
The omnibus spending bill, signed last week by President Trump, was an important victory for rivers and clean water, not only for what was in the bill, but also for what was left out.
In a year of political upheaval and attacks on environmental safeguards, American Rivers continues to claim some significant victories – thanks to you, our supporters.
President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill on Friday, and it’s an important victory for rivers and clean water.
Here are some of the ways our rivers, clean water supplies, and communities won in the spending bill:
- $8.821 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency ($763 million more than the 2017 enacted level) that includes vital funding to prevent water pollution and safeguard drinking water.
- $209 million (up from $100 million) for FEMA to reduce flood risk for communities through better planning, and rebuilding homes and businesses away from floodplains.
- $104 million (up from $75 million) for the WaterSMART program’s water efficiency efforts.
Also important is what’s not in the bill: we were able to fight back several harmful anti-environmental riders, including one that would have prevented public scrutiny and judicial review of the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal the Clean Water Rule.
While we celebrate this good news, we are continuing to defend our rivers from a series of attacks from Congress and the Trump administration. We’ll be sounding the alarm about urgent threats to ten rivers on April 10, when we announce America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2018.
To all of you who help make our victories possible, and who stick with us through all of the battles – thank you.
