Americans expect to be able to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live their lives safe from harmful pollution. We all want to pay lower utility bills and to have confidence that when extreme weather disasters strike, the federal government is willing and able to help states and local communities prepare, recover, and rebuild.

Federal agencies like the EPA, DOE, NOAA, and FEMA play key roles in: addressing pollution and the climate crisis; making cheaper, cleaner energy more accessible; and helping people prepare for and recover from extreme weather. In short, their work helps ensure our health and safety. We need well-funded and well-staffed federal agencies to do this critical work.

The climate crisis is life or death. People are dying because of climate impacts and the administration is seemingly doing everything it can to make things worse. Since Trump came into office, he and his administration have been busy: illegally freezing funding; indiscriminately firing agency staff; handing exemptions to oil and gas companies to pollute freely; destroying natural spaces; undermining life-saving and science-based clean air and water standards; crippling the U.S. research landscape and driving scientists abroad; ending energy efficiency programs with longstanding bipartisan support; attacking burgeoning renewable energy industries; and eroding federal support for communities when disasters strike.

That’s why Congress needs to adequately fund and staff the EPA and other agencies and ensure the administration follows the law by spending Congressionally appropriated funding as intended. Congress must enable agencies and their staff to continue their mission of protecting the American people and future generations so they can live safe and healthy lives.