Latest news with #AppropriationsSubcommittee
E&E News
2 days ago
- Politics
- E&E News
Lawmakers aim to slash climate funds in two spending bills
House Republican appropriators Wednesday proposed deep cuts in many agriculture programs, eliminating the long-standing 'climate hubs' at the Agriculture Department and targeting resilience for natural disasters in military and veterans funding. Annual spending legislation for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 would set discretionary spending at USDA and related agencies at $25.5 billion, which Republican appropriators said would reflect a 4.4 percent decline from this year's level. While the proposal would hit certain areas especially hard — such as the climate hubs, conservation and urban agriculture — it would increase spending at the Agricultural Research Service and maintain funding to fight animal and plant pests and diseases at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Advertisement The Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture is scheduled to mark up the bill Thursday. Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said in a news release that the measure 'reflects a clear, conservative commitment to fiscal responsibility while ensuring that America's farmers, ranchers, and rural communities remain a top priority.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Duffy clashes with Democrats over DEI funding cuts, denies air traffic controllers let go
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sparred with Democrats at a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, slamming Biden-era climate and social justice projects while also pushing back against claims 400 air traffic controllers have been let go. Duffy said such initiatives sucked money from other projects, and he pointed to the 2023 Harvard Supreme Court decision that effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions as justification for scrapping them. He said such Biden-era policies inflated project costs without contributing to safety or infrastructure quality. "Our department, over the course of the last hundred days, has saved taxpayers roughly $9.5 billion," Duffy said in his opening statement. "Those savings include monies pulled from projects tied to social justice to climate requirements, also boondoggle projects, as well as bringing efficiencies to the department." Transportation Secretary Says Air Traffic Control System Updates Will Take Time, But Not 'Jeopardize Safety' Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., took issue with the move and drew on personal experience to justify it. "My late wife... had to walk two and a half miles to school every morning right past the White school, where the White kids had buses. That was social injustice," Clyburn said. "Now all of a sudden we see this as wasteful government spending? I don't think so. I think this is a wise investment in a country that has challenges that we need all people involved in." Read On The Fox News App Duffy, while praising Clyburn's history and work as an elected official, clarified that he wasn't attacking the broader concept of social justice, but rather specific policy conditions under the Biden administration. "What I see with the climate and the social justice requirements in the projects that you so dearly want built, that it's adding costs on," Duffy said. "It's costing more money. If we take out 5 to 10% climate or social justice, that's money we don't have for additional projects. And that's my concern." Congress Moves To Address Air Traffic Controller Crisis As Newark Meltdown Sparks Alarm Duffy also clashed with Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., who claimed that 400 air traffic controllers have been let go, accusing the Trump administration of eroding national air travel safety and delaying infrastructure projects. "The administration undermined [safety efforts] by offering deferred resignation to controllers, and at least 400 of them… were fired, resulting in delays to much-needed upgrades," Torres said. Duffy sharply pushed back, calling her statement a "falsehood" and flatly denying the claim. "We have not fired – haven't let go – anyone," Duffy said. "Air traffic controllers? You said we let 400 go. No one in air traffic control has been allowed to take a deferred resignation offer. Not one. Not 400. Zero." The hearing focused on reviewing the Transportation Department's FY 2026 discretionary budget request of $26.7 billion, a 5.8% increase from FY 2025. He promised to reduce bureaucracy, eliminate inefficiencies and reallocate savings to infrastructure. "Our budget carefully focuses taxpayer resources on items critical to our most fundamental mission of safety and investing in transportation infrastructure," Duffy said. In terms of the recent outages at Newark Airport, he blamed them on missteps by the previous administration, citing an ill-planned transfer of airspace control from New York to Philadelphia. "They didn't test and make sure the lines were hardened… and they didn't move the STARS system, which helps interpret radar," Duffy said. "We're working at lightning speed and pace to get this resolved," he said. To ease pressure on the system, the FAA is also working with airlines to reduce flight volumes, he article source: Duffy clashes with Democrats over DEI funding cuts, denies air traffic controllers let go
Fox News
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Duffy clashes with Democrats over DEI funding cuts, denies air traffic controllers let go
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sparred with Democrats at a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, slamming Biden-era climate and social justice projects while also pushing back against claims 400 air traffic controllers have been let go. Duffy said such initiatives sucked money from other projects, and he pointed to the 2023 Harvard Supreme Court decision that effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions as justification for scrapping them. He said such Biden-era policies inflated project costs without contributing to safety or infrastructure quality. "Our department, over the course of the last hundred days, has saved taxpayers roughly $9.5 billion," Duffy said in his opening statement. "Those savings include monies pulled from projects tied to social justice to climate requirements, also boondoggle projects, as well as bringing efficiencies to the department." Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., took issue with the move and drew on personal experience to justify it. "My late wife... had to walk two and a half miles to school every morning right past the White school, where the White kids had buses. That was social injustice," Clyburn said. "Now all of a sudden we see this as wasteful government spending? I don't think so. I think this is a wise investment in a country that has challenges that we need all people involved in." Duffy, while praising Clyburn's history and work as an elected official, clarified that he wasn't attacking the broader concept of social justice, but rather specific policy conditions under the Biden administration. "What I see with the climate and the social justice requirements in the projects that you so dearly want built, that it's adding costs on," Duffy said. "It's costing more money. If we take out 5 to 10% climate or social justice, that's money we don't have for additional projects. And that's my concern." Duffy also clashed with Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., who claimed that 400 air traffic controllers have been let go, accusing the Trump administration of eroding national air travel safety and delaying infrastructure projects. "The administration undermined [safety efforts] by offering deferred resignation to controllers, and at least 400 of them… were fired, resulting in delays to much-needed upgrades," Torres said. Duffy sharply pushed back, calling her statement a "falsehood" and flatly denying the claim. "We have not fired – haven't let go – anyone," Duffy said. "Air traffic controllers? You said we let 400 go. No one in air traffic control has been allowed to take a deferred resignation offer. Not one. Not 400. Zero." The hearing focused on reviewing the Transportation Department's FY 2026 discretionary budget request of $26.7 billion, a 5.8% increase from FY 2025. He promised to reduce bureaucracy, eliminate inefficiencies and reallocate savings to infrastructure. "Our budget carefully focuses taxpayer resources on items critical to our most fundamental mission of safety and investing in transportation infrastructure," Duffy said. In terms of the recent outages at Newark Airport, he blamed them on missteps by the previous administration, citing an ill-planned transfer of airspace control from New York to Philadelphia. "They didn't test and make sure the lines were hardened… and they didn't move the STARS system, which helps interpret radar," Duffy said. "We're working at lightning speed and pace to get this resolved," he said. To ease pressure on the system, the FAA is also working with airlines to reduce flight volumes, he said.
E&E News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Wright: There's no funding freeze at DOE
Energy Secretary Chris Wright categorically denied he was blocking climate law money to renewable projects during a Wednesday budget hearing, while also shedding new details on when the department could cancel or deny funding going forward. At the House Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on DOE's budget request, Democratic lawmakers asked Wright withering questions about the status of money from Biden-era climate legislation. But despite the Democratic concern, Wright denied that any obligated funding was being withheld. 'We don't have a single unpaid invoice at our department, not one,' Wright said. 'We've paid our bills, all of our bills. We are reviewing existing projects, but we have canceled zero so far.' Advertisement Democratic committee leaders in both the House and Senate said in a letter this week that the Department of Energy was indiscriminately canceling projects and deliberately blocking approved climate law funding without the approval of Congress.
