Outside: A close reading of the President’s 2020 Department of the Interior budget reveals massive funding cuts for everything public-lands related—except for oil and gas
“To understand any budget, all you need to see are the numbers. And when you look at the Trump administration’s 2020 budget proposal for the Department of the Interior, those numbers paint a pretty clear picture. Despite rhetoric about allocating more money for fire suppression and to address the National Park Service’s overwhelming maintenance backlog, the reality is that, if this proposal were to move forward, there would be less cash to go around for virtually every line item that isn’t directly related to oil and gas extraction. The good news? The President doesn’t set the federal government’s budget; Congress does. And, according to House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva, “This isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, it’s dead on arrival in Congress, and printing it was a waste of time.”

But, as an indication of the Trump administration’s priorities, the balance sheets in this budget are about as truthful as it gets. The administration is committed to slashing funding for our national parks and public lands. Let’s cut through the bullshit…”