Trump’s Budget Targets Out Last Line of Defense Against Pandemics and Environmental Crises

While Donald Trump’s request for a $1.5 trillion military budget has dominated the headlines, significantly less attention has been paid to the environmental initiatives he intends to cut to support his foreign policy objectives. Under the recently released request, Trump is targeting what he calls “Green New Scam” programs. For example, Trump’s budget would eliminate $45 million in funding for the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) renewable energy programs, shifting focus toward mineral development and opening federal lands and waters to oil, gas, and coal production.

One particular DOI program targeted is the US Geological Survey’s Ecosystems Mission Area (EMA). Founded in 2010, EMA is the biological research arm of USGS. The program is a successor of the USGS Biological Resources Division and the National Biological Survey, which were formed “to provide early warning of habitats and ecosystems in trouble and separate research functions from regulatory roles.” EMA contains multiple programs, such as the Biological Threats Research Program, the Climate Adaptation Science Centers, and the Environmental Health Program. Data collected through these programs are used by various partners across the US, including wildlife managers, policymakers, local governments, water managers, and emergency managers. Partners that utilize EMA data include the California State Coastal Conservancy, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Kentucky Department of Natural Resources, and Louisiana State University. EMA also partners with other federal entities, such as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

However, Trump is claiming in his request that EMA provides “funding for climate research to weaponized universities, and distracted the bureau from its core energy and minerals work.” Considering this claim, it’s worth asking what EMA actually does for its partners. One recent study by the Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program examines the ecological impact of highly pathogenic avian influenza, from disease spread to the development of early-detection tools that inform both animal and human health decisions at the local level and for larger government entities such as HHS. Additional research, since removed from the EMA website, explored how changes in land cover and water management following settlement have affected wetland systems in the Southeastern United States, which now face an increased risk of flooding due to wetland depletion.

The latest budget request isn’t the first time Trump has targeted EMA. His FY26 budget request also attempted to gut the program, and Congress later rejected those cuts. However, this rejection has not slowed the administration’s attack on environmental science, and as we know from other government agencies that have been made to disappear overnight, Trump often gets what he wants, whether it’s legal or not.

The fact is that environmental science is essential at a time when little is understood about how a changing climate is affecting the world’s ecosystems. Pandemics, droughts, floods, pollution, and more threaten life on Earth, and ignoring these problems doesn’t make them go away. The research EMA produces is the first line of defense against escalating environmental crises. For the sake of the people it represents, Congress must once again dismiss Trump’s budget proposal and reinforce its Power of the Purse.

This first appeared on CEPR.

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