Bush Budget Proposes Deep Cuts In Key Programs

摘要

The Bush Administration proposed cutting the EPA's Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) by $360 million in fiscal 2006, from $1.09 billion to $730 million. The CWSRF, a loan program that helps local communities repair and replace aging infrastructure, has been the primary source of federal support for clean water projects since its creation in 1987. Inadequate federal funding of both the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds has been an increasingly high profile issue for environmentalists in the past decade as various needs surveys show a widening gap between what needs to be spent at the local level on decrepit waste-water and drinking water facilities and what cities, towns and states can afford to spend. The EPA estimates that a total investment of $388 billion is necessary by 2019 to ensure that Americans continue to have access to clean water.