White House budget proposal harsh on Department of Interior
With the release of the 2018 White House Budget proposal, environmentalists and public lands advocates are worried over a $1.4 billion (10.9 percent) cut to the Interior Department. The proposal targets federal lands, opens oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and cancels money set aside to bring economic opportunities to Appalachia — often in the form of farming ventures.
‘No sugarcoating’ sharp cuts at USDA, Perdue says
The Agriculture Department would lose more than 5 percent of its workforce under President Trump's proposals to slash crop insurance and food stamps, to down-size conservation programs and to eliminate many rural development programs, said USDA officials. "There's no sugarcoating what we will face," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.