EPA Budget Cuts: Reducing Bureaucracy, Not Environmental Quality

With the battle over the debt heating up in Congress, the EPA has once again become the target of budget cutters in Washington. A plan by House Republicans to reduce funding for the agency has been called an “environmental disaster” and a “declaration of war” on environmental protections. But the question no one is asking is what effect the EPA’s budget has on measured environmental quality. Do increased EPA budgets result in direct improvements in environment quality, or does it simply increase the size and scope of the agency? Could budget cutting reduce bureaucracy without reducing environmental quality?

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