Trump Proposed Budget Guts Programs That Protect Drinking Water, Public Health
Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
Contact: Jordan Lubetkin, lubetkin@nwf.org, (734) 904-1589
Trump Proposed Budget Guts Programs That Protect Drinking Water, Public Health
Coalition: ‘Congress needs to reject budget and go back to drawing board.’
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (June 2, 2025)—The Trump Administration released more details about how its proposed budget would undermine efforts by local, state, and Tribal governments to protect the drinking water, public health, and quality of life for more than 30 million people in the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The Trump Administration is proposing to drastically cut investments in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure for communities and to eliminate programs that local, state, and Tribal communities rely on to control pollution, reduce non-point runoff, confront the threat of lead contamination, clean up brownfield sites, and help communities most impacted by pollution and harm.
“The Trump Administration’s budget request would gut programs that protect our drinking water, protect our public health, and protect our communities. It’s a complete disaster,” said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “These proposed cuts will not save taxpayers any money, it will only cost more money in the long term by allowing existing challenges to continue and future threats to grow unchecked. Congress needs to reject this budget and go back to the drawing board to invest in programs that are producing results and that help the communities most impacted by pollution and environmental harm.”
The proposed budget does retain funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a long-standing program to clean up toxic pollution, restore habitat, and manage invasive species.
“We appreciate this budget sparing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative from the reckless cuts to other core clean water programs. It still does not excuse the Trump Administration for the rash choices it made to eliminate programs that are urgently needed to help communities confront health-threatening pollution,” said Rubin. “This budget is a non-starter, and we look forward to working with Congress to support programs that support a healthy environment and healthy economy.”
Read details of the Trump Administration’s proposed EPA budget, with eliminated programs on page 55.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 185 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on social media @HealthyLakes.
