Connecticut Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy says President Donald Trump’s budget proposal devastates programs that serve the state’s neediest and protect the environment.
The president’s budget eliminates funding for specific regional conservation efforts such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Chesapeake Bay and other geographic programs. The Nature Conservancy says Trump’s budget proposal would affect the clean up of Long Island Sound.
David Sutherland, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy in Connecticut, says it is not confirmed but the Long Island Sound Study could be one of those programs.
“That program we believe would be eliminated and that would really set back our efforts to improve the quality of Long Island Sound.”
Sutherland says Trump’s budget includes cuts to the EPA that would mean the loss of a significant number of jobs at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection that are paid for by the federal government.
Governor Malloy says Trump’s budget proposal also guts programs that provide people in the state with access to critical services like housing, education, energy assistance and child nutrition.
Malloy says if President Trump truly wanted to put America First, he would have started by putting people and common values first in his budget.
“Changes, particularly in the clean water area, would be very hurtful. Some of the social services cuts would be very hurtful, at a place like Department of Social Services or those agencies within state government that serve people with disabilities or the elderly. This is a budget that in essence attacks all of those areas.”
Malloy says the proposal also cuts $90 million from the federal low-income energy assistance program that provides winter heating assistance to more than 100,000 Connecticut households. He says he doubts Trumps budget will be accepted by Congress.
