Our Sustainability Leader Mike Cavanaugh is featured in a new article from Architect magazine focused on growing concerns amidst designers about proposed deep cuts to federal environmental programs under the Trump administration. As the article notes, “To avert a partial government shutdown, legislators struck a budget deal that either maintains or only slightly cuts existing levels of funding for agencies that regulate and research energy and the environment. Most dramatically, the EPA – which Trump’s budget outline targets for billions of dollars in cuts, equal to nearly a third of the agency’s annual budget – receives only a minor ding: a reduction of $81.4 million.”
However, the deal is a temporary spending bill and not technically a budget. It only postpones what will likely be a bitter fight between Republicans and Democrats over funding for environmental initiatives that could have an impact on the building industry.
Per Cavanaugh, “Now is more important than ever for designers who don’t want to see federal environmental programs cut to speak up. This new spending bill only gets us through September, and it is anticipated that the current administration will take these next few months to convince legislators to agree to deep cuts to come. The key is to stay vigilant, stay aware, network, build up organizations that have been following these matters, and mobilize.”