Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was arrested on charges related to the bribery scandal that led to her impeachment. Park faces 13 charges in total, including bribery, abuse of power and the leaking of state secrets. She has not been formally indicted yet but prosecutors can detain her for up to 20 days before formally charging her.
Park was removed from office March 10th, stripping her of presidential immunity after South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld a decision to impeach her for alleged corruption.
The scandal has dominated the headlines in South Korea since late last year and sparked mass protests, many calling for her impeachment. The controversy centered around Park’s friend and close adviser, Choi Soon-sil, who is alleged to have had significant and inappropriate influence over the former president. Choi is on trial for abuse of power and fraud.
Among other accusations, Park is accused of helping extort some $38 million from Samsung and a total of $70 million from South Korean companies for the private slush fund of her friend and confidant Choi Soon-sil. Park is also accused to leaking state secrets to Choi. Lee Jae-yong, the former head of Samsung is also being held in connection to the same corruption scandal. Lee is accused of approving the millions in bribes to Choi.
The former president continued to deny all wrongdoing during a 14-hour interrogation last week, leading prosecutors to ask for a warrant for her arrest. They said they were concerned Park would destroy evidence if she remained at large. The 65-year-old former president was taken to a detention center outside Seoul, the same detention center where Choi Soon-Sil and Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung are both being held. If convicted, Park could face up to 10 years in prison.
Park becomes the third former president in South Korean history to face the possibility of a prison sentence. Two other former leaders, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, were charged with improperly collecting millions from businesses while in office. Both were later pardoned after short jail stints.
Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office released a statement regarding the arrest. “The suspect abused the mighty power and position as President to take bribes from companies and infringed upon the freedom of corporate management and leaked important confidential official information.”
Park Geun-hye was the nation’s first female president and the daughter of the former president Park Chung-hee. Park’s mother was killed in 1974 in an assassination attempt that targeted her husband. Park was regarded as First Lady after her mother’s death. Park’s father, Chung-hee, was gunned down by his own intelligence chief in 1979. After her father’s killing, Park Geun-hye left the presidential Blue House and secluded herself from the public eye. She entered politics in the late 1990s — when public nostalgia for her father emerged after the country’s economy was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis.
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The U.S.-backed Iraqi military’s ground campaign against ISIS to retake west Mosul was mistakenly reported as being halted after details emerged about U.S.-led coalition airstrikes on March 17th killed over 200 people in a single day. The U.S.-led coalition has admitted launching the airstrikes that targeted a crowded section of the Mosul al-Jadida neighborhood. The March 17 strikes appear to be among the deadliest U.S. airstrikes in the region since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Amnesty International has accused Iraqi officials of advising residents not to flee amid the airstrikes and ground offensive. Amnesty claims officials dropped leaflets and broadcast over the radio that residents should stay in their houses. Amnesty said, “The fact that Iraqi authorities repeatedly advised civilians to remain at home instead of fleeing the area, indicates that coalition forces should have known that these strikes were likely to result in a significant numbers of civilian casualties.
Disproportionate attacks and indiscriminate attacks violate international humanitarian law and can constitute war crimes.” Many have questioned whether the U.S. military has loosened the rules of engagement that seek to limit civilian casualties. The Pentagon maintains the rules have not changed.
Despite reports of the ground campaign being suspended, heavy fighting continues in west Mosul. The campaign for West Mosul has involved block-by-block fighting in an urban environment. ISIS has been using snipers and bombs against the US backed Iraqi military.
Though not confirmed, it’s been reported that Major Gen. Maan al-Saadi, a commander of the Iraqi special-forces, said that the civilian deaths were a result of a coalition airstrike that his men had called in, to take out snipers on the roofs of three houses in a neighborhood called Mosul Jidideh. General Saadi said the special forces were unaware that the houses’ basements were filled with civilians seeking refuge. Witnesses have said that in an area where apartment blocks were reduced to rubble, at least 50 bodies could be seen, including those of pregnant women and children.
The Pentagon announced that the incident was under investigation and a day later confirmed that the coalition had targeted Islamic State fighters and equipment in the area on March 17, “at the location corresponding to allegations of civilian casualties”. The military is investigating at least a dozen other reports of civilian casualties in Mosul.
Iraqi Vice-President Osama Nujaifi, a Mosul native, has called the strike a “humanitarian catastrophe” that killed hundreds. He blamed the US-led coalition and federal police for using excessive force and called for an emergency session of Parliament to address the incident.
Prior to this incident, the Pentagon had said that there have been 220 civilian deaths since the campaign against the Islamic State began in 2014, but independent monitoring groups say that there have been over 2700.
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Three teenagers were killed in a deadly home invasion in Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa, when the home-owners son, 23 year old Zach Peters shot them with an AR-15 rifle. The teens, who broke in through a back door, were later identified as 19-year-old Maxwell Cook, 17-year-old Jacob Redfearn and 16-year-old Jaykob Woodriff. All three were dressed in black and wearing masks and gloves. One of the alleged suspects was found to have a knife, while another was carrying brass knuckles.
No charges have been filed against Zach Peters and Wagoner County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Mahoney said “Preliminary investigation looks like it’s self-defense,” but cautioned that the investigation was still ongoing. Oklahoma is one of 24 states which have laws also known as “stand your ground” laws-allowing citizens to shoot someone if they believe the person threatens their safety, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.
The getaway driver, Elizabeth Rodriguez, a 21 year old mother of three, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree burglary. She has been jailed without bond since turning herself in. Oklahoma law allows a person to be charged with murder if they take part in a crime in which people are killed, even if the person does not take part in the slaying.
Rodriguez, who was in a relationship with Cook, one of the suspects killed, admits to planning the burglary and driving the teens to the home on two occasions that same day. The teens first broke into and stole items from a garage apartment earlier in the day but returned to gain entry into the main house. It does not appear that the residents and intruders knew each other but Rodriguez told authorities she knew the homeowner Zach Peters, had knowledge of the house and chose his house because she believed he had money.
The suspects kicked in a back door and encountered Peters, who shot all three after a brief exchange of words. Peters’ father was also in the house at the time but was not involved in the shooting. Rodriguez, who had been waiting in her car in the driveway, fled the scene when she heard shots fired. She turned herself in shortly after seeing a news report of the shooting on TV so the families of the deceased could be notified.
During a jailhouse interview with Inside Edition, Rodriguez said that she and the teens had committed several car-jacking and home invasions prior to the fatal home invasion in Broken Arrow. She stated that she waited in her car after hearing the shots and saw the youngest of the suspects killed, Jake Woodruff stumble to the driveway, and slide across the hood of her car before collapsing on the ground. She then sped out of the driveway, leaving him on the ground.
Immediately after the shooting, Peters barricaded himself in his bedroom and called 911. In the 911 call, Peters tells the operator that he shot two intruders and that another had gotten away. When asked, he tells the operator that the suspects were shot in the upper body and asks them to send help fast as one is badly wounded, though he can still hear one talking.
When police arrived, two of the suspects were found deceased in the kitchen and the third had succumbed to his wounds in the driveway. Police stated that Peters appeared to be in shock and repeatedly asked if the suspects were going to be ok.
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Five people have died and dozens were injured in a terrorist attack outside the Houses of Parliament in London including a police officer and the attacker. The attacker is believed to have acted alone but police are investigating possible associates and do not further attacks on the public are planned. ISIS has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the attacker “a soldier of Islamic State”.
The attack began when 52 year old Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge. He struck and killed three people – two of whom died at the scene and one who later died of his injuries in the hospital. Masood crashed the vehicle into a wall outside the parliament, where he ran into New Palace Yard. Armed with two knives, he attacked two police man at the security gates as he tried to enter the building. There, he stabbed an unarmed police officer multiple times and was subsequently shot by police.
At least 50 people were injured, with 31 requiring hospital treatment. Two victims remain in a critical condition, one with life-threatening injuries. Two police officers are among those still in hospital. Victims killed in the attack have been identified as 43 year old mother of two Aysha Frade who was hit by a bus while fleeing the attack and 75 year old Leslie Rhode who succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Also killed was 54 year old Utah resident Kurt Cochran. He and his wife, Melissa, were on the last day of a trip to Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Melissa remains in hospital with serious injuries. Forty-eight year old Police Officer Keith Palmer who was a husband and father, had 15 years of service with the parliamentary and diplomatic protection service.
British-born attacker Khalid Masood was known to police and had been investigated a few years ago by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism but police have said he was not part of any current investigation at the time of the attack. Masood, who was born in Kent, a county east of London, had several aliases including his birth name “Adrian Russell Ajao”. He had a range of previous convictions for assaults- including grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offences. His most recent arrest was in December 2003 for possession of a knife.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, led a vigil attended by thousands in Trafalgar Square where he vowed “Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism”. World leaders condemned the attack and offered condolences. The US president, Donald Trump promised full support by the US government to the UK in responding to the attack. Leaders of Canada, France, Germany and Spain were among others who sent messages of solidarity.
In the aftermath of the attack, London has been doubled the number of armed police and increased the number of unarmed officers. Police raided properties in Birmingham — where the culprit’s vehicle was rented from Enterprise — and London. Defense Minister Michael Fallon described the attack as a “lone-wolf attack” but said investigators were still checking whether others were involved.
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Oil could start flowing through the highly contested $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline as early this week. The company building the Dakota Access pipeline says the project remains on track to start moving oil this week despite recent “coordinated physical attacks” along the line. Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners didn’t detail the attacks, but said they “pose threats to life, physical safety and the environment.”
Two American Indian tribes have battled the $3.8 billion pipeline in court for months, arguing it’s a threat to water. The company has said the pipeline will be safe. An appeals court rejected the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Nations’ request for an emergency injunction to stop the pipeline from becoming operational.
Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia cleared the way for the startup, when he turned down two North Dakota tribes’ request for a preliminary injunction to prevent oil from flowing under Lake Oahe.
The 1,172-mile, four-state pipeline constructed almost entirely on private land is 99 percent complete, but a federal easement which was obtained in February-was required in order to finish the final 1,100-foot stretch in North Dakota. When complete, the pipeline will move crude oil from the Bakken field in North Dakota to a shipping point in Patoka, Illinois via 30-inch diameter pipes, and then connect to an existing reconfigured pipeline.
The pipeline consists of more than 700 miles of existing pipeline that has been converted to crude oil service from Patoka to Nederland, Texas. The two pipelines are expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2017.
The approval in February was granted after President Trump issued an executive order to expedite the process. The US Army Corps of Engineers originally granted the easement for the pipeline in July, but withdrew it in December under political pressure from thousands of protesters camped near the construction site at Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
The Corps abandoned the additional environmental review launched in December and argued in court that it undertook a two-year review of the project’s impact on water quality and historic relics, including 389 meetings with 55 tribes. The company rerouted the pipeline 140 times in response to concerns raised.
Greenpeace and a group of more than 160 scientists dedicated to conservation and preservation of threatened natural resources and endangered species have spoken out against the pipeline. Many Sioux tribes say that the pipeline threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance.
Protests at sites in North Dakota began in the spring of 2016 and drew indigenous people from throughout North America creating the largest gathering of Native Americans in the past hundred years. In January, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department released figures showing the state and local policing of the protests have cost $22.3 million since August 10 2016.
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Newly released research shows hate crimes in major cities across the United States rose by more than 20% in 2016. The data released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, shows there were more than 1,000 hate-related crimes committed in 2016—a 23% increase over 2015.
Another report released in February 2017 by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) monitoring group showed that the total number of hate groups in the US in 2016 grew to 917 from 892 a year earlier. There are now more anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, white nationalist, neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate and black separatist organizations. The sharpest increase was among anti-Muslim groups, which grew from 37 in 2015 to 101 in 2016. The number of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) chapters, racist skinhead groups and anti-government militias and political groupings has declined, according to the report.
The overall number of hate groups likely understates the real level of organized hatred in America as a growing number of extremists operate mainly online and are not formally affiliated with hate groups. In the first 10 days after Trump’s election, the SPLC documented 867 bias-related incidents, including more than 300 that targeted immigrants or Muslims.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.”
Many major cities are reporting an increase in hate crimes since the start of 2017. In New York City, there were 100 hate crimes from January 1 through March 5, compared with 47 during the same period last year. In Chicago, the police department tallied 13 during the first five weeks of 2017 — more than triple the number recorded in the first five weeks of last year.
A coalition of civil and human rights organizations has created a national database and a hotline aimed at getting victims help — including lawyers. The effort, led by the Leadership Conference Education Fund and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, is intended to build upon the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the nation’s leading watchdog against hate groups.
Eleven organizations have joined the effort, representing African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Arabs, women and the LGBTQ community. Calling themselves Communities Against Hate, they will aggregate data in an effort to document hate crimes and provide victims with social services and pro-bono attorneys. In addition, a new Muslim-Jewish coalition is pushing the government to provide more data on hate crimes and focus on punishing offenders. The group represents an effort to get advocates to stand up for people of other faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
In recent months, incidents of hate have been directed against transgender women, Jews, African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, Hindu Americans, Sikh Americans and others. Recently, 156 civil and human rights groups urged Trump in writing to respond faster and more forcefully to hate-based incidents. In his recent address to a joint session of Congress, the president condemned “hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms,” but critics have said he had taken too long to issue that statement.
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President Trump’s proposed budget has received criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The 2018 budget calls for an unprecedented $54 billion increase in military spending while slashing environmental, housing, diplomatic and educational programs. It also calls for a 31% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency and the elimination of 3,200 jobs. If approved, the EPA’s budget would become the smallest it’s been in 40 years.
The Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department and the Agriculture Department took the hardest hits. The State Department would see a 29% decrease in funding, eliminating climate-change prevention programs, reducing funding for U.N. peacekeeping, reducing funding for development banks and reducing most cultural-exchange programs.
The Agriculture Department would lose 4.7 billion (21%) of its funding, eliminating the $200 million McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program, eliminating the $500 million Water and Wastewater loan and grant program, reducing the budget for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition assistance from $6.4 billion to $6.2 billion and cuts $95 million from the Rural Business and Cooperative Services program.
The budget proposes cutting 6.2 billion in funding (13%) for the Department of Housing and Urban Development-eliminating the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program and eliminates the $35 million of funding for Section 4 Community Development and Affordable Housing. The cuts would also eliminate the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the Choice Neighborhoods program and the Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program.
The Department of Health and Human Services would lose 18% of its funding. The Education Department would see $9 billion (14%) cut from its funding, with a decrease of $3.7 billion in grants for teacher training, after-school and summer programs, and aid programs to first-generation and low-income students. While “school choice” programs would receive $1.4 billion more in funding, increasing the budget for charter schools and spending $1 billion to encourage districts to allow federal dollars meant for low-income students to follow those students to the public school of their choice.
The Department of Labor stands to lose 2.6 billion (21%) in funding which would eliminate the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which helps low-income seniors find work. The budget cuts would close poor-performing centers for Job Corps, a job-training program for disadvantaged youth and eliminate grants that help nonprofit groups and public agencies pay for safety and health training.
The proposal also eliminates funding for 19 agencies including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports public radio and TV stations nationwide; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Legal Services Corporation, which funds free legal aid nationwide.
These cuts are not set in stone just yet but they do show where President Trump’s priorities are. Congress will still have to draft a formal budget and Trump’s proposed budget is expected to face fierce opposition in Congress. Congress completely by-passed President Obama’s budget proposal last year while drafting the formal budget.
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A federal grand jury has indicted nine high-ranking active and retired Navy members as part of an investigation into a bribery scandal known as “Fat Leonard.” The Justice Department says the nine have been charged with accepting luxurious dinners, trips, gifts and the service of sex workers as bribes in exchange for handing over classified military information to Singapore-based defense contractor Leonard Francis.
Twenty-seven people have been charged with crimes since the investigation became public in 2013, including the nine Navy officers indicted this month. Authorities say that the case is still unfolding and that more than 200 people — including 30 admirals — have come under scrutiny.
Known as “Fat Leonard” for his 6ft 3inch, 350-pound physique, Francis has pleaded guilty to bribing “scores” of Navy officials for over a decade with prostitutes, cash, hedonistic parties and other gifts. In exchange, according to federal prosecutors, the officials provided Francis with classified or inside information that enabled his firm, Glenn Marine Defense Asia, to gouge the Navy out of tens of millions of dollars. Leonard also plead guilty to padding invoices for services not rendered so that some of his navy contacts could pocket the money for themselves.
In June 2016, Robert Gilbeau became the first active-duty Navy admiral in modern history to be convicted of a felony. He is awaiting sentencing. In January, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Gentry Debord was sentenced to 30 months in prison, ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and $37,000 in restitution to the U.S. Navy. Debord, 41, plead guilty in October 2016 to accepting bribes in the form of cash, luxury hotels and prostitutes from Leonard Glenn Francis. The fraud occurred from November 2007 to January 2013, while Debord was a supply officer aboard the U.S.S. Essex.
Others charged are current or former U.S. Navy officials, including Commander Bobby Pitts, Captain Daniel Dusek, Commander Michael Misiewicz, Lt. Commander Todd Malaki, Commander Jose Luis Sanchez, former NCIS Supervisory Special Agent John Beliveau II, Petty Officer First Class Daniel Layug and Paul Simpkins, a former DoD civilian employee who oversaw contracting in Singapore.
Dusek, Misiewicz, Malaki, Beliveau, Sanchez and Layug have also pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme. On Jan. 21, Layug was sentenced to 27 months in prison and a $15,000 fine; on Jan. 29, Malaki was sentenced to 40 months in prison and to pay $15,000 in restitution to the Navy and a $15,000 fine; on March 25, Dusek was sentenced to 46 months in prison and to pay $30,000 in restitution to the Navy and a $70,000 fine; on April 29, Misiewicz was sentenced to 78 months in prison and to pay a fine of $100,000 and to pay $95,000 in restitution to the Navy; and on Oct. 14, 2015, Beliveau was sentenced to serve 144 months in prison and ordered to pay $20 million in restitution to the Navy. Sanchez awaits sentencing. Pitts was charged in May 2016 and his case remains pending.
Military personnel found guilty of serious misconduct are usually demoted and forced to retire – and because pension values are based on rank, losing a star or a stripe leads to a partial reduction in their pension. Seven Navy officers who have pleaded guilty in the corruption and bribery scandal are reportedly still eligible for generous taxpayer-funded retirement benefits. Disgraced Navy admiral Robert Gilbeau has already begun collecting $10,000 a month.
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Three separate shootings have raised worries among Indians and other communities about possible violence against foreign workers in the United States. The senseless shooting of two technology workers from India and another man at a bar in Olathe, Kansas made national headlines. The victims, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani, both engineers employed by Garmin were at Austins Bar & Grill in Olathe.
A witness says Adam Purinton, 51, became agitated by the presence of the two men and was asked to leave by regular patron Ian Grillot. Purinton left but returned a short time later and approached Kuchibhotla and Madasani. He opened fire, yelling “Get out of my country!” Kuchibhotla was killed and Madasani was wounded. Grillot, who was shot in the hand and chest, was praised as a hero for attempting to intervene and subdue the suspect during the shooting.
Purinton was arrested hours later at an Applebee’s restaurant in Clinton, Missouri, about 70 miles away from Olathe. Applebee’s employees called 911 and an Applebee’s bartender told police that a man had admitted to shooting two “Iranian” people in Olathe and was looking for a place to hide. Purinton faces one first degree murder charge and two charges of attempted first degree murder.
Another shooting occurred in Lancaster, South Carolina when 43 year old Harnish Patel was shot and killed in front of his home. Patel was killed after returning home from working at the Speedee Mart convenience store, which he owned. Patel had lived in the United States for 14 years. He was married and had one child in elementary school. He was originally from the Indian state of Gujarat. Police are still looking for the shooter.
Police are investigating a third shooting that occurred in Kent, Washington. The shooting of Deep Rai, a 39-year-old Sikh man, was shot while cleaning his car in his driveway. The victim’s family said a man approached and began calling him names, telling him, “Go home to your country!” The shooter then pushed him to the ground and shot him in the arm.
The victim lost consciousness and only realized he’d been shot when he regained consciousness in the hospital. He was released the next day and is expected to make a full recovery. Rai is a U.S. citizen originally from Punjab, India. Rai became the fourth Indian man to be shot within the last few weeks in the United States. All of the shootings are being investigated as possible hate crimes.
The Sikh Coalition said members of its community are at heightened risk of hate-crime attacks -partially because their faith requires the wearing of turbans and beards. In a statement, spokesman Rajdeep Singh said it’s important the Kent shooting be investigated as a hate crime. “While we appreciate the efforts of state and local officials to respond to attacks like this, we need our national leaders to make hate crime prevention a top priority,” he said. “Tone matters in our political discourse, because this is a matter of life or death for millions of Americans who are worried about losing loved ones to hate.”
“The Sikh community is shaken and very frustrated at the hate and rhetoric that is being spread today about anyone that looks different, who looks like an immigrant.”
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The White House is seeking to dramatically reduce the power of the Environmental Protection Agency, slashing dozens of programs and laying off 20% of the agency’s staff. The proposed budget cut plans to cut the EPA’s budget by 25% to $6.1 billion, and cut its workforce by 20% to 12,400 employees, in the 2018 fiscal year that begins 1 October. The plans require the complete elimination of EPA programs on climate change, toxic waste cleanup, environmental justice and funding for Native Alaskan villages. It would slash funding to states for clean air and water programs by 30% percent as well.
According to sources that have seen preliminary directives from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Trump administration wants to cut spending by EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) by more than 40% from roughly $510 million to $290 million.
The cuts target scientific work in fields including climate change, air and water quality, and chemical safety. EPA’s $50 million external grant program for environmental scientists at universities would be eliminated altogether. Cuts in the new budget memo include climate, air, and energy research would fall from $91.7 million to $45.7 million. Research in chemical safety and sustainability would drop from $89.2 million to $61.8 million. Water-related science falls from $107.2 million to $70.1 million. The budget for sustainable healthy communities plunges from $139.7 million to $75.8 million. The OMB memo also states that the EPA would no longer contribute to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a multiagency task force that coordinates federal research on global change.
The OMB office says the cuts are needed to help reduce the burden that EPA regulations place on industry and state and local governments. Environmental scientists, regulators, and current and former EPA officials warn the reductions would devastate the agency’s efforts to carry out its mission of protecting human health and the environment.
The Trump administration’s final 2018 budget request is scheduled to be released on March 16th. It is not clear whether the administration will keep the steep EPA cuts in its final request to Congress, or whether Congress will approve the cuts. Many federal lawmakers, as well as state and local officials, have already expressed strong opposition to some of the cuts.
The new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a long EPA foe, has suggested that he will push back against parts of the preliminary White House plan. Some senior Republicans in Congress have also expressed doubts about the larger Trump administration budget plan driving the EPA cuts.
It calls for boosting discretionary defense spending in 2018 by $54 billion, and paying for that increase by cutting discretionary spending at civilian agencies such as EPA. The shift would likely require Congress to change a 2011 law, called the Budget Control Act, that imposes caps on domestic spending—but Democrats in the Senate have already said they would block any change unless it also includes spending increases for civilian programs.
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