WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) issued the following statement after the House passed H.R. 5538, theDepartment of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2017:
“By passing the Interior Appropriations bill, the House took action to cut wasteful spending at agencies like the EPA, while also unleashing the potential of our nation’s critical natural resources on federal lands. This bill takes major steps to block President Obama’s radical global warming agenda by cutting the EPA’s budget by over $160 million, slashing its staff to its lowest levels since 1989, and prohibiting the EPA from implementing new greenhouse gas regulations for power plants. This bill also stops the administration from raiding much-needed coastal restoration funds away from Gulf States, like my home state of Louisiana, to fund his pet projects that are unrelated to oil revenue sharing. I will block every effort by President Obama to raid Louisiana’s hard-fought revenue sharing funds that are crucial to our coastal restoration. I commend Chairmen Rogers and Calvert for their leadership on this important legislation.”