10.28.20

Chair Grijalva Releases Roadmap to Repair DOI & Other Agencies, Reverse Damage From Four Years of Trump Administration Corruption and Incompetence

Washington, D.C. – Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and the majority staff of the House Natural Resources Committee today released a 47-page report outlining the Trump administration’s destruction of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other agencies in the Committee’s jurisdiction and how to restore those agencies’ effectiveness and credibility.

The report, titled Dirty Deals: Four Years of the Trump Administration Putting Polluter Profits Over People, is available online at https://bit.ly/31Pm9YL. It looks at four major areas:

  • What Has the Trump Administration Destroyed?
  • How Has the Trump Administration Been Able to Destroy So Much?
  • Who is the Trump Administration Hurting the Most?
  • What are the Natural Resources Democrats Doing to Fight Back?

The report sums up the human, environmental and economic consequences of Trump-era mismanagement, which have ranged from costly fossil fuel subsidies to deregulatory favors to polluters to the seemingly intentional worsening of public health crises in DOI’s jurisdiction. The impacts have been felt in economically neglected communities around the country and have often fallen hardest on Native American communities, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, and communities of color.

In addition to the Trump administration’s environmental and economic failures, the report highlights human rights abuses like the crackdown on peaceful civilians at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., during a civil rights demonstration. The report notes that the Committee immediately opened an investigation of the crackdown, which took place right before President Trump staged a photo op with a borrowed Bible in front of a nearby historic church.

The report notes major Democratic legislative successes in the 116th Congress and provides a roadmap for future legislative efforts. Many of this Congress’ most impactful Democratic bills were never taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate.

As the report notes, Chair Grijalva and other Democrats on the Committee have responded by introducing a broad range of bills to strengthen federal environmental justice standards, end taxpayer giveaways to polluting industries that don’t need or deserve them, speed the national transition to clean energy and a decarbonized economy, restore Tribal sovereignty and address the crushing fiscal austerity that continues to make recovery impossible for Puerto Rico.

“This administration put polluters in charge of our economy, and the Republican Senate gave them cover to get away with whatever they wanted,” Grijalva said today. “The past four years of mismanagement and incompetence at DOI started at the very top, and more Americans than we’ll ever know have suffered as a result. The good news is that we already know how to fix it. The next Congress should be about protecting our environment and building a sustainable economy that works for everyone, and this report puts our plan to do it front and center.”

Press Contact

Media Contact: Adam Sarvana

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