From Karen, a military spouse, at Milspouse Mutterings, on budget cuts and clean air.
The military community had some lousy days last week. Our stress levels were sent skyrocketing by the threatened shutdown, which was going to bite us in the paycheque. Hard
I’ll be writing a LOT more about that – but I also want to talk to you all about what the entire mess was about. The Budget!
The cuts in the Budget that were making the biggest noise were the Planned Parenthood and NPR – but there are other cuts.
Republicans are aiming to curb the Environmental Protection Agency’s reach, especially its role as a regulator of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. GOP lawmakers have proposed riders that would limit the agency’s ability to oversee coal mining and enforce the Clean Air Act.
Taking away the EPA’s ability to enforce the Clean Air Act – what a giant step backwards! When we fought for so long to get the Clean Air Act passed, why would we decide to forego all the advances we made? Why would we want to allow more pollution in the air? The Senate has stopped the effort to gut the Clean Air Act, but I really think they need some encouragement. A thank you and keep up the good work to the fifty that voted against the rider that would have stopped the EPA from continuing to protect our lungs against pollutants; and a request to the other fifty, to ask them to support the EPA, to support Clean Air, to support our children’s lungs and keep us healthy.
If the EPA doesn’t regulate what comes out of our smoke stacks, who will? I doubt the coal companies will self-regulate, or the companies that run the power plants either! When I hear that companies will self-regulate, I usually get a vision of a fox sitting outside the hen run.
If you don’t think that phone calls make a difference – believe me, they do. I’ve talked to some Hill staffers, who told me that the phone logs are given to the Congressman – they listen.
Now besides the calls for the Clean Air Act – while you have them on the phone, ask them to support two acts. HR 1297 and S. 724 would continue pay and allowances for active and reserve component forces in the event of a failure to enact interim or full-year appropriations for the Armed Forces.
Don’t forget to head over to Mom’s Clean Air Force for other ideas on how you can make a change.