FactSheet: Trump’s FY26 EPA Budget Proposal Puts Communities in Harm’s Way
President Trump’s FY 26 budget proposal includes a 55% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency. These proposed cuts jeopardize state and federal efforts to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. They will also weaken federal capacity to respond to environmental emergencies.
Budget Cut Summary
- Cuts funding for states and communities by 88%.
- Cuts EPA’s science budget by half (52%), eliminating more than 1,000 science positions and undermining the scientific research and advancement that EPA, states, tribes, communities and businesses rely on.
- Cuts EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act by unspecified amounts, calling EPA’s strong bipartisan record collecting fines for pollution violations “legally dubious.”
- Eliminates EPA’s Environmental Justice programs, abandoning communities facing the worst pollution, and ignoring the fact that pollution does not affect everyone equally.
- Eliminates clean air and climate programs, leaving communities more vulnerable when a wildfire starts, a hurricane strikes, or a bad-air day puts asthmatic kids in the hospital.
Not what Americans want
- A 2024 post-election poll showed that 88% of all voters, and 81% of Trump voters, want Congress to increase EPA funding or at least keep funding steady.
- Former senior EPA officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations have opposed deep cuts to EPA’s budget.
