Memo to Hal Rogers: 'Hope' is not a strategy for dealing with EPA

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said that the proposed 18 cut in the FY2012 budget for EPA “sends a very strong message” to rein in EPA’s actions. Rogers then added, “I am hopeful that these provisions are sufficient to prod EPA in the right direction.”

But we’ve been down this path before. The EPA doesn’t generally respond to such “messages.” The EPA knows that the Democrat-controlled Senate will reject the House budget cuts and the Republicans will then fold like a cheap suit. If Rogers wants to get the EPA’s attention, he’ll need to turn the agency’s lights off for awhile — that will require an Alamo-like stand to deep cuts in the EPA budget.

Rogers may view the proposed 18% budget cuts as deep, but we view them as approving of 82% of what the EPA does.