House appropriators pushed back Thursday on the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts to the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers, with Democrats pressing for answers on water projects in their districts that could lose funding.
The White House budget would slash Reclamation funding by nearly 22 percent and Army Corps funding by 36 percent. The cuts would come at a time when much of the West is staring down record drought conditions, including along the Colorado River.
“I’m concerned that at this level, we will not be able to address the most pressing water resource needs across the West,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the Appropriations Energy-Water Subcommittee, said of the proposed Reclamation cuts.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the subcommittee’s ranking member, called the cuts to both agencies “misguided” and “dangerous.”
