Washington – In a letter delivered this morning to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and fellow Senate Democrats, nearly 150 advocacy groups from across the country called on them to reject the Republican budget proposal passed by the House yesterday, in light of the Trump administration’s ongoing operation to illegally dismantle the agencies and functions of the federal government. The letter was facilitated by the environmental organization Food & Water Watch and signed by groups including Progressive Democrats of America, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Our Revolution, 350.org, New York Communities for Change and Citizen Action NY.

The letter states, in part: 

Musk and Trump are illegally dismantling critical agencies and programs that protect workers, our environment and the economy, while ignoring Congress in the process. We call on you to take a strong public stance and rally the Senate to reject any spending bill that allows this lawlessness to continue… We call on you to withhold all votes for any spending bill until this stops.

“Musk and Trump are in the middle of executing an illegal partial government shutdown. Democrats must not vote for any spending bill that doesn’t address this,” said Mary Grant, water program director at Food & Water Watch. “Approving the budget bill passed in the House is an invitation for Musk and Trump to continue their efforts to shut down and eliminate key government functions that protect people’s food, water, health, and pocketbooks. Senator Schumer and Democrats in the Senate should stand strong and oppose this dangerous bill.”

Notably, the Republican spending measure eliminates Congressionally-directed spending for clean water projects. It zeros out the $1.4 billion in earmarked funding through the EPA’s State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs, and $117 million through USDA’s Rural Water and Waste Disposal assistance program. While the overall funding levels for the SRF programs are unaffected, he rural water program is reduced by the amount of the earmarked projects, amounting to a 20 percent cut in funding for rural water and wastewater projects. 

The proposal would cut USDA’s Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations by 58 percent by zeroing out $20 million in earmarked projects, and it eliminates $39 million in EPA’s State and Tribal Assistance Grants that were previously earmarked for remediation and environmental management activities. It would also cut USDA’s Conservation by $19 million and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) by $14 million.