Several agencies are on the political and legislative radar for significant changes or even elimination.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of them and the agency may have replaced the Veterans Administration for being the most frequent agency in the news.
Targeting the EPA For Elimination
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has submitted a bill to eliminate the agency by December 2018. Congressman Gaetz cited a quote referring to the agency as one that is “relentlessly ideological, politicized, corrupt and incompetent.”
In a recent article, he noted he is opposed to what the agency is doing and not the underlying mission:
“The EPA budget is $8 billion. Much of this money filters through to states through joint programs, but far too much is spent on Washington-driven bureaucracy and endless studies; $27 million even goes to foreign governments, while environmental priorities at home languish.”
In other words, he wants to scrap the EPA and start over with a smaller, more focused organization. This bill is not given a significant chance of passing into law.
About the EPA
While it has become a political football, the Environmental Protection Agency was actually created by an executive order under President Nixon. The order establishing the EPA was subsequently ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. It is in more recent years as the EPA has expanded its authority that it has become a source of political discontent and a target for elimination or restructuring.
The EPA now has about 16,000 employees with a budget of about $8 billion. Here are the agency totals for salaries as of Fiscal Year 2016.
| Average EPA Salary | $113,646 |
| Average Federal Salary | $81,578 |
| Average Federal Salary in Washington | $112,000 |
| Total EPA Salaries | $1,764,661,937 |
| EPA Salaries in Washington | $468,477,677 |
Salaries are much higher in a few agencies and much lower in others. Here is the salary database for EPA employees.
Newly Confirmed EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt
er of collapsing and causing major damage.
EPA’s Employees Under Administrator Pruitt
Pruitt also believes EPA agency employees should be able to embrace his priorities. Fixing pollution in the Hudson River, finally cleaning up the Hanford nuclear site, and doing direct things people can see helping should excite agency employees.
“I am committed to the role of this agency. The administration is committed to the role of this agency. There is so much to accomplish. So its important that the career staff here at the EPA know this isn’t a disregard for the agency, it’s a restoration of its priorities.”
Another priority will be to end the agency’s practice of “sue and settle.” Ms. Strassel writes: “That’s when a federal agency invites a lawsuit from an ideologically sympathetic group, with the intent to immediately settle. The goal is to hand the litigators a policy victory through the courts—thereby avoiding the rule-making process, transparency and public criticism. The Obama administration used lawsuits over carbon emissions as its pretext to create climate regulations.”
What About Staffing Cuts?
We do not know if there will be significant cuts in the EPA workforce in coming months. There will be a reordering of priorities. As the federal workforce exists to implement policies of the administration in power, regardless of party, EPA employees will presumably now work to implement the policies to improve our environment being put into place as new officials take charge in EPA and other agencies.
