As expected, President Trump’s proposed federal budget delivers a wind-sucking gut-punch to the Environmental Protection Agency. If the president has his way, the regulatory agency will lose nearly one-third of its 2016 budget of $8.1 billion, mostly through deep cuts to climate, clean air, and environmental restoration programs like Superfund.
Of course, the odds of Congress actually adopting Trump’s entire plan are slim—though Republicans probably won’t have too many conflicts with his environmental axe-slinging. Still, the document provides key insights into the president’s priorities, attitudes, and thinking. And he clearly takes aim at a slew of federal agencies and programs that seek to protect the planet. Across nearly every appendage of the executive body, his budget treats such projects like malignant growths. But not always. The budget recommends a few notable increases. Let’s dive in.
Proposed budget: $5.7 billionTotal cuts: $2.1 billionBest to start with the biggie. The EPA’s cuts are broad and deep, with total reduction of 31 percent over 2016.
Proposed budget: $28 billionTotal cuts: $1.7 billionThe DOE was another big target for the Trump administration. Of course, DOE Secretary Rick Perry once famously bragged that he would eliminate the agency completely, even if he has since walked that back after learning what the agency actually does. Trump proposes a mix of cuts and boosts, in largely predictable fashion.
Proposed budget: $11.6 billionTotal cuts: $1.5 billionThe DOI oversees the National Park system, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs—iconic agencies crucial to the US’s national identity, not to mention national resources. Trump’s cuts are mostly vague. The budget presents few line item reductions here, favoring mealy-mouthed management patois like “streamline” to describe the hatchet-job he favors.
Proposed budget: $17.9 billionTotal cuts: $4.7 billionAg ain’t just cows and corn. The agency also manages the nation’s national forests, and research that maintains the health of  food-growing ecosystems.
Proposed budget: $7.8 billionTotal cuts: $1.5 billionCommerce? What does commerce have to do with the environment? Ever heard of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration? It is the nation’s primary source of weather data and forecasting. It also does some research, which, perhaps all too predictably, Trump throttles for dollars.
Proposed budget: $44.1 billionTotal boosts: $2.8 billionThe DHS is one of the few executive offices that Trump thinks deserves a raise. And that’s not because it encompasses FEMA, the federal backstop that saves (or at least, tries … sometimes) people from losing everything after natural disasters. No, most of the budget surplus goes to, you guessed it, border security and immigration. Unfortunately for the millions of Americans who live in flood prone regions, Trump’s budget calls for cutting $190 million from the National Flood Insurance Program, another program that enjoys fairly broad bipartisan support.
Proposed budget: $25.6 billionTotal cuts: $10.1 billionWhy is this here? The State Department is the executor of several promises past US presidents have made to donate money to international climate efforts. Under the axe? The Global Climate Initiative, the Green Climate Fund, and several earlier commitments. Those cuts won’t come without some compromise—or, in Trump-ese, deal-making. See, the only reason the US pays into those climate funds is because prior administrations have promised them in exchange for other concessions in the ongoing, and annual, international climate negotiations. Reneging on these promises won’t endear the US to its developing world allies, not to mention China.
Proposed budget: $19.1 billionTotal cuts: $200 millionTrump mostly supports space exploration, unless the bit of space being explored is the only known planet capable of supporting life: Earth. His budget calls for immediately cutting four Earth science missions: PACE (ocean health), OCO-3 (carbon measurement), DISCOVR (amazing full-disk imagery), and CLARREO (measures changes in the climate).
Proposed budget: $16.2 billionTotal cuts: $2.4 billionTravel is one of the biggest contributors to both pollution and climate change. And whether it’s through financing cross-country train trips, or funding mass transit options, USDOT has some pretty important programs.
Overall, the Trump budget fits his messaging. Not only in its targets—the president has made no secret of his antipathy towards environmental projects and regulations of any sort—but also in its presentation. The budget is relatively shy on hard details. Now the buck is passed to Congress, which will have to press Trump’s administration for more details, while fighting over the few this budget contains.